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IENTS 


UC  -  NRLI 


B    E    A33    D42 


J)  I   ~>t 


GIFT 
JUN  10  19U 


REPORT    OF   THE 


INDUSTRIAL  WELFARE 
COMMISSION 


OF   THE 


STATE    OF   WASHINGTON 


ON   THE 


Wages,  Conditions   of  Work   and   Cost  and 
Standards  of  Living  of  Women  Wage- 
Earners  in  Washington 


PREPARED  BY 

GAROLINE  J.  GLEASON 


Olympia,  Washington,  March  1914 


Olympja: 
frank  m.  lambobn  <a^^b  pltblic  printer. 

1914 


REPORT    OF    THE 


INDUSTRIAL  WELFARE 
COMMISSION 


OF    THE 


STATE    OF    WASHINGTON 


ON     THE 


Wages,   Conditions    of   Work   and    Cost   and 
Standards   of  Living  of  Women  Wage- 
Earners  in  Washington 


PREPARED  BY 

CAROLINE  J.  GLEASON 


Olympia,  Washington,   March   1914 


:ltm?:a 


INDUSTRIAL  WELFARE  COMMISSION. 


EDWARD  W.  OLSON,  Chairman. 

MRS.  JACKSON  SILBAUGH. 
MRS.  FLORENCE  H.  SWANSON. 

MRS.  W.  H.  UDALL. 
;    ;  M,  H.  MARVIN. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Page 

Names  of  Commissioners 2 

Table    of    Contents 3 

Statistical     Tables     4 

Summary  of  Work  of  Industrial   Welfare   Commission 5 

Letter  of  Special   Investigator   submitting  Report 10 

Section       I.     Introduction  to  Report 11 

Section     II.     Wages     18 

Mercantile  Stores    18 

5,  10  and  15  Cent  Stores ' 21 

Factories    23 

Fish  Canneries    (Hours)    29 

Laundries    30 

Section  III.     Conditions  of  Labor 34 

Laundries   34 

Factories 37 

Mercantile  Stores   42 

Section    IV.     Cost  and  Standards  of  Living 47 

Board   and   Room    48 

Rooms   Investigated    52 

Clothing  and  Laundry    55 

Church  and  Association  Dues 58 

Magazines   and    Stationery    60 

Vacation  and  Amusement    61 

Medicine  and  Dentistry 63 

Summary    64 

Section      V.     Personal  Comment : 

By    Employers     66 

By  Employes    73 

Section    VI.     Practical  Problems : 

Nominal  and  Real  Wages 77 

Seasonal  Work  and  Unempiojjasent 78 

Time  and  Piece  Rates  of  Payment 80 

Wages  Determined  by  Efficiency 82 

Minimum   not  the   Maximum 82 

Conjugal    Conditions    84 

Residence  at  Home  and  "Adrift" 85 

Pin    Money    Theory    87 

Effect  of  Underpayment  on  Health  : 

(a)  Of  Worker    87 

(b)  Of    Next    Generation 89 

Effect  of  Low  Wages  on  Morals 90 

Minors  and  Adults 90 

Learners  and  Experienced  Workers 92 

Misfits 93 

Summary     95 

Effect  of  Hypothetical  Legal  Minimum  Wage 96 

Regulations  of  Commission  Governing  Procedure  of  Conferences 97 

Law  Establishing  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 101 

Opinions   of   the   Attorney    General 108 

£85683 


LIST  OF  TABLES. 


Page 

Form  III 12 

Form  IV 13 

Form  V ,.  .      14 

Table  I.  Summary  of  Wage  Schedules  Received,  Classified  by  In- 
dustries          16 

Table  II.  Cumulative     Per    Cent,    of    Workers    in    Three    Largest 

Cities  of  the   State  in  Various  Wage  Groups 17 

Table  III.  Wage   Schedule  of  5,155   Female  Employes  in   Mercantile 

Establishments  in   Washington 18 

Table  IV.  Cumulative   Wage    Schedule   of   168    Female   Employes   in 

5  and  10  Cent  Stores 21 

Table  V.  Wage    Schedule   of   1.753    Female   Employes   in    Factories.      23 

Table  VI.  Cumulative  Per  Cent,  of  Wages  of  1,753  Female  Em- 
ployes in  Factories    24 

Table  VII.  Relative  Number  of  1,753  Female  Employes  in  Factories 

(Time  and  Piece  Rates  and  Minors  and  Adults) 24 

Table  VIII  to  XVI.     Weekly  Wage  Schedules  of  3,009  Female  Employes  in 

Factories  in  Washington,  Classified  by  Industry 25 

Table  XVII.  Showing  Hours  Worked  by  1,420  Fish  Cannery  Employes.      29 

Table  XVIII.  Weekly    Wage    Schedule    of    2,304    Female    Employes    in 

Laundries    in    Washington 30 

Table  XIX.  Cumulative  Wage  Schedule  of  Female  Employes  in  Laun- 
dries           30 

Table  XX.  Showing  Weekly  Hours  of  2,185  Laundry  Workers 32 

Table  XXI.  Room  and  Board  Offered  in  Response  to  Advertisers 48 

Table  XXII.  Average  Annual  Cost  of  Room  and  Board  of  341  Women.  .      51 

Table  XXIII.  Estimated  Annual  Cost  of  Clothing  and  Laundry 57 

Table  XXIV.  Average    Annual    Amount    Estimated    as    Necessary    for 

Church  and  Association  Dues 59 

Table  XXV.  Average    Annual    Amount    Estimated    as    Reasonable    for 

Magazines  and  Stationery    60 

Table  XXVI.  Average    Annual    Amount    Estimated    for    Vacation    and 

Amusements    61 

Table  XXVII.  Average    Annual    Amount    Estimated    for    Medicine    and 

Dentistry     63 

Table  XXVIII.       Actual  Cost  of  Living  of  27  Employes  in  Mercantile  Stores     64 

Table  XXIX.  Estimated   Total   Annual    Cost   of   Living  Expenses 65 

Table  XXX.  Showing    Relative    Number    of    Female    Employes    in    Fac- 

tories and  Laundries  Working  by  Time  and  Piece  Rates     SO 

Table  XXXI.  Conjugal  Condition  of  2,688  Female  Employes  in  Washing- 
ton,   Classed   by    Industries S4 

Table  XXXII.         Conjugal    Condition    of    2,688    Female    Employes    in    Five 

Cities,   Arranged  According  to  Population 85 

Table  XXXIII.  Residence  of  2,728  Girls  in  Five  Cities  According  to  Pop- 
ulation and  Classified  as  at  Home  and  "Adrift" 85 

Table  XXXIV.        Residence  of  2,705  Girls,  Classified  by  Industries,  and  the 

Per  Cent,  at  Home  and  "Adrift." 86 

Table  XXXV.  Weekly  Wages  of  3.058  Girls,   Classified  as  at  Home  and 

"Adrift." S7 

Table  XXXVI.       Women   Workers,   Classified  by   Industries,  and  as   Minors 

and   Adults    90 

Table  XXXVII.      Wages    of    5,336    Adult    Women    Workers,    Classified    by 

Length  of  Service  in  Present  Employment 95 

Table  XXXVIII.  Effect  of  a  Legal  Minimum  Wage  on  Wages  of  Experi- 
enced Women  Workers    96 


SUMMARY   OF  WORK  OF  INDUSTRIAL 

WELFARE  COMMISSION  SINCE  ITS 

ORGANIZATION,  JULY    12,  1913. 


The  Act  making  it  unlawful  to  employ  women  or  minors  in 
the  State  of  Washington  for  "wages  which  are  not  adequate  to 
their  maintenance,"  and  establishing  the  Industrial  Welfare 
Commission  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  that  act,  went  into 
effect  on  June  twelfth,  1913.  On  July  twelfth  the  following  per- 
sons were  appointed  by  Governor  Lister  as  members  of  this 
Commission.  The  names  are  given  in  the  order  in  which  the 
terms  of  the  appointees  were  to  expire : 

Dr.  Theresa  S.  McMahon,  Seattle,  for  term  ending  Jan.  1, 
1914;  Mrs.  Florence  H.  Swanson,  Raymond,  for  term  ending 
Jan.  1,  1915  ;  Mrs.  Jackson  Silbaugh,  Seattle,  for  term  ending 
Jan.  1,  1916;  Mrs.  N.  J.  Laumer,  Spokane,  for  term  ending 
Jan.  1,  1917.  Mr.  Edward  W.  Olson,  State  Labor  Commis- 
sioner, is  ex-officio  member  of  the  Commission. 

Mrs.  Laumer,  because  she  is  an  honorary  member  of  the  In- 
ternational Typographical  Union,  was  thereby  prevented  by  the 
provisions  of  the  law  from  qualifying,  and  her  place  was  filled 
by  Rev.  M.  H.  Marvin,  of  Sunnyside,  for  the  term  ending  Jan- 
uary 1,  1917. 

Upon  the  expiration  of  Mrs.  McMahon's  term  on  January 
1,  1914,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Udall,  of  Tacoma,  was  appointed  to  succeed 
her  for  the  term  expiring  January  1,  1918. 

On  July  12th,  1913,  Governor  Lister  sent  a  communication 
to  the  State  Labor  Commissioner,  urging  him  to  convene  the 
newly  appointed  members  of  the  Commission  at  as  early  a  date 
as  possible.  This  request  was  complied  with,  the  meeting  being 
held  in  Olympia  on  July  23rd,  at  which  time  a  temporary  organi- 
zation was  created,  Mr.  E.  W.  Olson  being  elected  temporary 
Chairman.  It  was  deemed  inadvisable  at  that  time  to  elect  a 
Secretary,  partly  from  a  desire  to  conserve  as  much  as  possible 
the  appropriation  allowed  by  the  Legislature  to  carry  on  the 


6  State  of  Washington 


work,  and  partly  from  the  fact  that  it  required  time  to  consider 
the  numerous  applicants  for  that  position.  Mr.  Olson  therefore 
volunteered  to  care  for  the  work  until  a  Secretary  could  be 
elected.  At  this  meeting  plans  were  devised  for  conducting  an 
investigation  into  the  wages,  cost  of  living  and  conditions  of 
labor  of  women  and  minor  workers  in  the  different  industries  in 
the  state,  which,  complying  with  the  provisions  of  the  law,  was 
necessary  before  formal  conferences  could  be  called  together  to 
recommend  an  adequate  minimum  wage  for  the  women  workers 
in  these  industries. 

Three  methods  of  procedure  were  outlined : 

(1)  Five  different  blank  forms  were  drawn  up  for  the  pur- 
pose of  securing  statistical  information  bearing  on  the  question 
of  wages  paid  and  conditions  of  employment  of  women  and  min- 
ors, and  the  cost  of  living  in  all  the  details  incident  thereto. 
These  forms  are  described  in  detail  in  the  introduction  to  the  re- 
port. Over  thirty  thousand  of  these  blanks  were  distributed, 
either  by  mail  or  through  personal  canvas.  Wage  blanks  to  the 
number  of  about  5,000  were  mailed  to  the  different  employers  in 
the  state  and  little  difficulty  was  encountered  in  obtaining 
prompt  response,  a  remarkably  large  percentage  of  returns 
being  obtained. 

For  the  purpose  of  obtaining  an  expression  from  the  em- 
ployers on  the  cost  of  living,  about  400  personal  letters  were  ad- 
dressed to  employers  of  women  in  different  parts  of  the  state,  en- 
closing therewith  blank  forms  for  estimates.  One  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  employers  responded  with  carefully  prepared  esti- 
mates, showing  that  considerable  thought  had  been  given  to  the 
question. 

The  work  of  getting  blanks  in  the  hands  of  the  employes 
proved  more  difficult,  owing  to  the  fact  that  a  mailing  list  of 
such  names  was  not  available.  It  was  therefore  decided  to  ask 
the  different  trade  organizations,  label  leagues  and  women's  clubs 
to  aid  in  the  distribution  of  these  blanks  and,  accordingly,  a 
personal  letter  was  addressed  to  the  secretary  of  each  organiza- 
tion and  a  number  of  blanks  forwarded  in  each  case  for  distri- 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


bution.  This  plan,  after  a  fair  trial,  did  not  bring  satisfactory 
results,  and  on  October  third,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Commission 
it  was  decided  to  employ  investigators  in  the  five  largest  cities  of 
the  state  to  obtain  the  desired  information.  The  survey  was  not 
fully  completed  until  the  first  of  the  year.  In  addition  to  mak- 
ing a  personal  survey,  advertisements  were  inserted  in  the 
classified  columns  of  thirty  newspapers  in  different  cities  of  the 
state  to  secure  information  as  to  the  cost  of  board  and  room  for 
a  working  girl.  A  total  of  344  replies  were  received  and  tabu- 
lated. Only  those  that  were  personally  investigated  have  been 
included  in  this  report. 

(2)      Certain  divisions  of  work  were  allotted  to  each  Com- 
missioner  as   follows:      Mrs.   Jackson   Silbaugh  was   instructed 
to   make   a   personal    investigation    of    department    stores,   and 
being  scheduled  for  a  lecture  tour  through  the  East  at  a  later 
date,  which  arrangement  had  been  made  prior  to  her  appoint- 
ment on  the  Commission,  she  was  -delegated  to  visit  the  Indus- 
trial Commission  of  Wisconsin  and  the  Minimum  Wage  Com- 
mission   of    Massachusetts    and   become    acquainted   with    their 
plans  and  methods  of  work.     On  her  return  trip  to  Washing- 
ton, Mrs.  Silbaugh  consulted  also  with  the  Oregon  Industrial 
Welfare  Commission  to  learn  its  method  of  procedure.     During 
the  middle  of  August  Mrs.  McMahon  and  Mr.  Olson  undertook 
an  investigation  of  the  fish  canneries  in  the  northern  part  of 
the   state.      One   week   was    spent   on   this   work,   during   which 
sixteen   canneries   were   visited.      Mrs.   McMahon   also   directed 
an  investigation  of  the  wages  and  length  of  service  of  women 
employes  in  laundry,  factory  and  mercantile  establishments  in 
Seattle.      This    was    undertaken    for    the    purpose    of    learning 
facts  concerning  the  apprenticeship  situation,  which  had  been 
referred  to  Mrs.   McMahon  and  Mr.   Olson.      In  this  she  was 
assisted  by  four  paid  investigators,  young  women  students  of 
the  University  of  Washington. 

An   investigation   of   sanitary    conditions   in    the   establish- 
ments of  the  state  was  placed  under  the  direction  of  Mrs.  Swan- 


8  State  of  Washington 

son,  who  was  also  delegated,  with  Mr.  Olson,  to  attend  a  public 
conference  of  the  Oregon  Welfare  Commission  in  the  city  of  Port- 
land, on  September  twenty-third. 

(3)  On  October  third,  the  Commission  decided  to  hold  in- 
formal conferences  with  employers  and  employes  in  the  mercan- 
tile, factory  and  laundry  industries  in  the  five  largest  cities  of 
the  state  to  discuss  the  wages,  cost  of  living  and  conditions  of 
labor  in  those  industries  as  they  are  affected  by  the  particular 
locality. 

The  first  informal  conference  was  held  on  October  twenty- 
first,  in  Bellingham.  Sixteen  conferences  in  all  were  called, 
four  each  being  in  Bellingham,  Everett,  Tacoma  and  Spokane. 
Conferences  were  planned  for  Seattle  but  were  not  called  at 
that  time  as  two  of  the  Commissioners  were  living  in  that  city 
and  felt  that  they  had  some  comprehension  of  the  problems 
there.  As  a  result  of  these  conferences  the  Commission  decided 
to  call  formal  conferences  in  the  mercantile,  factory  and  laun- 
dry industries  in  the  state  to  recommend  minimum  wages  for 
the  women  workers  in  those  industries.  These  conferences 
were  to  be  assembled  as  soon  as  a  written  report  showing  the 
conditions  in   the  industries   could  be  prepared. 

On  September  eighth,  a  permanent  organization  was  ef- 
fected, Mr.  Edward  W.  Olson  being  elected  permanent  Chairman. 
The  work  at  this  time  having  attained  such  proportion  as  to  de- 
mand the  services  of  a  secretary,  Mr.  Stuart  A.  Rice  was  elected 
to  that  position. 

As  soon  as  the  statistical  forms  were  returned,  the  secre- 
tary began  the  compilation  of  tables  to  show  detailed  facts  on 
the  labor  conditions  of  wage-earning  women,  these  facts  to  be 
presented  to  the  formal  conferences  which  are  to  recommend 
minimum  wages.  The  secretary  resigned  on  January  fourth, 
before  the  tables  were  complete. 

At  this  time  the  Commission  found  that  it  was  in  need  of 
expert  assistance  in  the  work  of  assembling  into  practical  form 
the  great  mass  of  facts  that  had  been  gathered  and  in  preparing 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  9 

and  writing  the  report,  therefore  a  resolution  was  adopted  ask- 
ing the  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  of  Oregon  to  grant  us 
the  services  of  Miss  Caroline  J.  Gleason,  its  secretary,  long 
enough  to  perform  this  work.  This  request,  though  involving 
considerable  sacrifice,  was  promptly  and  generously  granted 
the  Commission. 

Miss  Gleason,  who  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Minne- 
sota, has  had  wide  experience  in  this  field  of  work.  In  connec- 
tion with  a  course  at  the  Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philan- 
thropy and  in  residence  at  Chicago  Commons,  she  came  closely 
in  touch  with  industrial  situations  in  that  city.  Through  a  three 
months'  trip  of  investigation  of  establishments  employing  women 
in  all  of  the  large  cities  on  the  eastern  coast,  and  of  housing  op- 
portunities for  women  "adrift,"  she  gained  an  insight  into  wage- 
earning  women's  problems  as  they  exist  in  the  east.  When  the 
Consumers'  League  of  Oregon  decided  to  make  a  survey  of  wom- 
ens'  wages,  hours,  conditions  of  labor  and  cost  of  living  in  that 
state,  Miss  Gleason  was  asked  to  take  charge  of  the  investiga- 
tion. The  report  of  this  survey  resulted  in  minimum  wage  legis- 
lation on  this  coast. 

In  summing  up  our  work,  we  have  only  touched  upon  the 
salient  points  which  have  a  direct  bearing  upon  the  questions 
that  will  be  submitted  to  the  conferences  for  their  consideration. 
Many  features  of  our  investigations,  those  that  are  deemed  not 
germane  to  the  particular  matters  that  concern  the  conferences, 
have  therefore  been  omitted  from  this  report,  in  order  to  make 
it  as  concise  and  simple  as  possible.  All  tables  and  explanations 
have  been  reduced  to  the  simplest  degree  practicable,  without 
impairing  the  value  of  the  information  gathered ;  this  is  in 
order  to  facilitate  the  work  of  the  conferences. 

In  conclusion,  the  Commission  wishes  to  express  its  appre- 
ciation of  the  co-operation  of  employers  and  employes,  and  the 
various  organizations  and  interested  persons  throughout  the 
state  who  have  assisted  us  in  making  our  survey,  and  especially 


10  State  of  Washington 

do  we  acknowledge  our  gratitude  to  the  Industrial  Welfare  Com- 
mission of  Oregon  which  generously  permitted  Miss   Caroline 
J.  Gleason,  its  secretary,  to  prepare  our  report. 
Respectfully  submitted, 

Industrial  Welfare  Commission, 

Edward  W.  Olson,   Chairman. 

Mrs.  Jackson  Silbaugh. 

Mrs.  Florence  H.  Swanson. 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Udall. 

M.  H.  Marvin. 
Dated  at  Olympia,  Wash.,  March  10,  1914. 


Olympia,  Wash.,  March  2,  1914. 

To  the  Industrial  Welfare  Commission: 

I  herewith  submit  a  report  on  the  Wages,  Cost  of  Living 
and  Conditions  of  Labor  of  Women  and  Minor  employes  in 
Mercantile,  Manufacturing  and  Laundering  Industries  in  the 
State  of  Washington.  When  I  took  up  the  work  on  January 
19,  I  found  that  a  great  deal  of  tabulating  had  been  done. 
Much  more  was  necessary,  however,  before  the  tables  here  pre- 
sented assumed  their  final  form.  Your  Commission  has  per- 
mitted me  to  visit  the  largest  cities  in  the  state  and  to  obtain 
first  hand  information  on  all  topics  under  consideration.  I  wish 
to  thank  the  employes  and  employers  who  have  cooperated  in 
making  the  work  a  pleasant  task. 

Respectfully  yours, 

Caroline  J.  Gleason, 

Special  Investigator. 


Section    I. 
INTRODUCTION  TO  REPORT. 

Preparatory  to  making  this  investigation  into  the  wages, 
conditions  of  labor  and  cost  of  living  in  the  mercantile,  factory 
•  and  laundry  industries  in  the  state,  the  Commission  mailed  five 
blanks  to  various  persons  and  agencies  in  the  state  for  the  pur- 
pose of  gathering  information  on  the  question  of  what  a  mini- 
mum wage  should  be.     The  forms  sent  out  were  as  follows : 

Form  I  was  sent  to  employers  only.  This  form  requested 
the  number  of  female  workers  under  18  years  of  age  and  over 
18,  with  the  following  information  concerning  each  worker  in 
both  groups : 

(1)  The  average  wage  per  week;  (2)  Whether  the  worker 
was  employed  at  day  rates  or  at  piece  work;  (3)  The  average 
number  of  hours  worked  weekly  by  day  and  by  piece  work- 
ers. The  wages  were  to  be  given  by  stating  how  many  in 
each  group  were  receiving  under  $1,  $1  to  $1.95,  $5  to  $5.95, 
etc.,  to  $10  and  over.  The  blank  called  for  a  certificate  of 
correctness,  to  be  signed  by  an  official  of  the  firm. 

Form  II  was  similar  to  Form  I  except  that  the  information 
desired  concerned  the  wages,  hours,  nature  of  work  and  system 
(time  or  piece)  of  boys  under  18  years  of  age. 

Form  III  was  entitled  "Female  Wage  Earner's  Expense  Re- 
port." This  was  supposed  to  be  a  correct  statement  made  out 
at  the  end  of  each  week  for  six  months  of  the  actual  expenses 
incurred  by  the  compiler  for  her  maintenance.  Each  form  had 
the  following  list  of  items  and  questions :  board,  luncheons, 
lodging,  clothing,  repair  of  clothing,  laundry,  medicine  and 
dentistry,  street  car  fare,  newspapers  and  magazines,  station- 
ery and  postage,  association  dues,  insurance,  vacation  expenses, 
amusements,  church  or  other  contributions  and  gifts. 

Kind  of  employment?  Is  this  your  first  report  on  this  kind 
of  blank?  Do  you  live  alone?  Do  you  cook  your  own  meals? 
Do  you  live  with  parents  or  other  relatives?  Do  you  receive 
assistance  from  relatives?  Do  you  contribute  to  support  of 
relatives?     What  wages  do  you  receive  per  week? 


12 


State  of  Washington 


Form  III. 


Female  Wage  Earner's  Expense  Report 

INDUSTRIAL  WELFARE  COMMISSION, 

Olympia,  Washington.  No 

I,  the  undersigned,  do  hereby  submit  a  correct  statement  of  the  actual  expenses  in- 


curred  by  me  for  my  maintenance  during  the  four  weeks  ending . 

,  191. ... 

ITEMS 

1st 

Week 

2nd 
Week 

Srd 

Week 

4th 
Week 

Total 

Board  

Luncheons  

Repair  of  Clothing 

Stationery  and   Postage 

Association  Dues  

Insurance    

Vacation  Expenses  

Amusements  

Church  or  other  contributions .... 

Gifts   

Grand  Total 



Kind   of  employment 

Is  this  your  first  report  on  this  kind  of  blank? 

Do  you  live  alone? 

Do  you  cook  your  own  meals? 

Do  you  live  with  parents  or  otHer  relatives? 

Do  you  receive  assistance  from  relatives? 

Do  ycu  contribute  to  support  of  relatives? 

What  wages  do  you  receive  per  week? 

Remarks: 


(Signed). 


Address.. 


No.. 


City.. 


Note:     The  above  information  will  be  of  no  value  unless  It  is  continued  for  a  period 
of  at  least  six  months.    The  information  you  give  will  be  known  to  the  public  by  number 
only,  as  your  name  will  be  detached  by  the  Commission  and  filed  away  for  their  refer- 
ence only.  ^np^ 
Form  3. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


13 


Space  was  given  for  four  week's  tabulation.  At  the  end 
of  each  four  weeks  the  employe  was  to  turn  in  the  schedule  filled 
out  and  receive  a  new  one.  The  Commission  intended  to  file 
this  information  and  at  the  end  of  six  months  to  tabulate  it, 
hoping  thereby  to  arrive  at  a  nearly  perfect  estimate  of  the 
cost  of  living  of  self-supporting  women  in  the  state.  The  plan 
has  not  been  entirely  successful  as  it  is  most  difficult  to  persuade 
the  young  women  to  keep  the  weekly  account  and  send  it  in. 

Form  IV. 

191 — 

INDUSTRIAL  WELFARE  COMMISSION, 

Olympia,  Washington. 

Below  is  given  a  statement  which  I  believe  to  be  a  fair  estimate  of  the  amount  required  yearly  by  a  prudent, 
self-supporting  woman  employed  in  a  mercantile,  mechanical  or  other  industrial  establishment,  in  order  to  maintain 
herself  in  reasonable  comfort. 

DESIGNATE  ANNUAL  COST  OF  EACH  ITEM. 


Meals 

Room 

Shoes  and  Rubbers. . 
Repairing  Shoes 

Stockings 

Underwear 

Petticoats 

Suit 

Coat 

Dresses  and  Aprons . 

Shirtwaists 

Handkerchiefs 

Corsets 

Corsetwaists 

Gloves 


Neckwear 

Hats 

Umbrella 

Repair  of  Clothing 

Laundry 

Medicine  and  Dentistry 

Street  Car  Fare 

Newspapers  and  Magazines 

Stationery  and  Postage 

Association  Dues 

Insurance 

Vacation  Expenses 

Amusements 

Church  and  Other  Contributions. 
Incidentals 


Total  for  Year  . 


WRITE    REMARKS   ON    OTHER    SIDE    OF   THIS    SHEET. 

Are  you  employer  or  employee 


-Nature  of  business. _ 
Name 


Address.. 


Note:  The  above  estimate  Is  desired  by  the  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  for  the  express  purpose  of  determining  the 
average  of  opinion  and  as  a  guidance  for  the  Conferences  composed  of  representatives  of  the  Employers,  Employee*  and  the 
Public,  who  will  recommend  to  the  Commission  an  estimate  of  a  minimum  wage,  as  provided  by  the  law.  It  Is  not  Intended 
as  a  direct  means  of  establishing  a  minimum  wage.  Your  name  in  connection  tcith  this  matter  Kill  be  held  in  strict  confidence 
by  the  Commission. 


If.  after  Investigation,  the  commission  shall  find  that  in  any  occupa 
to  supply  them  neeessary  cost  of  living  and  (o  maintain  the  workers  in  he 
of  the  workers,  the  commission  is  empowered  to  call  a  conference  eompo 
the  occupation  or  industry  in  question,  together  irlth  one  or  more  disin 
public  shall  not  exceed  the  number  of  representatives  of  either  of  the  oth 
conference  and  chairman  thereof.  The  commission  shall  make  rules  and 
procedure  of  said  conference,  and  shall  exercise  exclusive  jurisdiction  or 
recommendations  of  said  conference.  On  request  of  the  commission,  it  sh 
estimate  of  the  minimum  wage  adequate  In  the  occupation  or  industry  in 
in  health,  and  to  recommend  standards  of  conditions  or  labor  demanded 
tions  of  the  conference  shall  be  made  a  matter  of  record  for  the  use  of 


lion,  trade  or  industry,  the  wages  paid  to  female  employes  are  inadequate 
1th,  or  that  the  conditions  of  labor  are  prejudicial  to  the  health  or  morals 
ed  of  an  equal  number  of  representatives  of  employers  and  employes  in 
terested  persons  representing  the  public;  but  the  representatives  of  the 
er  parties;  and  a  member  of  the  commission  shall  be  a  member  of  such 
regulations  governing  the  selection  of  representatixes  and  the  mode  of 
r  alt  questions  arising  a«  to  the  validity  of  the  procedure  and  of  the 
jll  be  the  duty  of  the  conference  to  recommend  to  the  commission  an 
question  to  supply  the  necessary  cost  of  living,  and  maintain  the  workers 
for  the  health  and  morals  of  the  employes.  The  findings  and  recommenda. 
the  commission.     {Bee.  10,  Chap,  174,  Lows  1313] 


14  State  of  Washington 


Form  V. 
Occupation  (be  specific) 


Name Married? 

Address  

Do  you  line  at  home,  if  not,  where?    (i.  e.,  in  rooming  house,  private 
family,  etc.) 

Number  of  other  working  girls  or  women  in  same  house? 

Have  you  any  roommate  or  roommates? 

Do  you  cook  any  of  your  meals? 

Amount  paid  per  week  for  room  $ For  board 

$. For  room  and  board  $ 

How  long  have  you  worked  in  this  establishment? 


INFORMATION  ON  APPRENTICESHIP  SERVED  IN 

PRESENT  OCCUPATION. 

How  long  did  you 
Wages  per  week  work  at  that  wage 

At   start $ months 

First  increase $ months 

Second  increase...   $ months 

Third  increase.  .  .  .    $ months 

Now    $ months 

Remarks 


City Date 

Name  of  establishment 


Kind  of  establishment 

Investigator 

Industrial  Welfare  Commission  of  Washington.     Form  5. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  15 

Form  IV  was  sent  out  to  employers  and  women  employes. 
This  contained  a  detailed  list  of  items  which  might  make  up  a 
self-supporting  woman's  cost  of  living.  The  recipient  was  re- 
quested to  give  a  "fair  est'vmate"  of  the  amount  required  yearly 
by  a  prudent,  self-supporting  woman  employed  in  a  mercantile, 
mechanical  or  other  industrial  establishment,  in  order  to  main- 
tain herself  in  reasonable  comfort.  The  estimator  was  requested 
also  to  state  whether  he  or  she  was  an  employer  or  employe,  was 
assured  that  the  name  would  be  held  in  strict  confidence  and  was 
directed  to  write  any  remarks  on  reverse  side  of  sheet. 

Form  V  furnished  figures  for  the  tables  on  the  Conjugal 
Condition  of  the  women  employes,  their  residence  and  wage  ex- 
perience.    This  blank  was  sent  to  women  employes  only. 

Besides  basing  the  report  on  the  answers  to  these  ques- 
tionaries,  the  present  investigator  visited  sixty  of  the 
largest  establishments  employing  women,  to  learn  by  personal 
inquiry  what  the  conditions  of  labor  for  women  in  the  state  are, 
to  interview  women  while  at  work  as  to  wages,  cost  of  living, 
experience  and  character  of  work,  to  interview  employers  and 
to  establish  a  relation  between  estimates  and  actual  facts.  At 
the  same  time  a  number  of  supplementary  cost  of  living  blanks 
(Form  IV)  was  handed  to  the  workers  personally,  with  an  ex- 
planation of  the  care  to  be  used  in  filling  them  out.  Not  a  suf- 
ficient number  were  returned  by  factory  and  laundry  workers 
to  permit  of  new  compilations. 

Of  the  total  number  of  forms  issued  by  the  Commission  in- 
formation was  returned  concerning  11,059  employes.  138  were 
returned  by  employers.  Of  the  11,059  employes,  5,323  were 
from  mercantile  stores,  3,011  were  from  factories,  2,304*  were 
from  laundries  and  421  were  from  office  employes  in  the  above 
named  industries  or  in  wholesale  jobbing  houses.  A  few  blanks 
were  returned  by  waitresses,  telephone  operators  and  housewives, 
but  these  were  eliminated  from  the  cost  of  living  estimates  as 
it  was  felt  that  they  were  too  few  in  number  to  give  an  accurate 
picture  of  the  situation. 


16 


State  of  Washington 


Table   I. 

SUMMARY  OF  WAGE  SCHEDULES  RECEIVED— CLASSIFIED 

BY   INDUSTRIES. 

Mercantile    5,323 

Factory   3,01 1 

Laundry    2,304 

Office   421 

Total 11,059 

A  number  of  tables  had  been  computed  when  the  present  in- 
vestigator took  up  the  work,  showing  the  wages  paid  in  all 
lines  of  work  in  each  of  the  five  largest  cities  in  the  state,  in 
cities  of  over  20,000  inhabitants  in  one  group  and  in  towns 
under  5,000  in  another  group.  As  the  law  is  construed  to  mean 
that  every  ruling  made  must  apply  to  the  entire  state,  the  wage 
tables  by  cities  have  been  almost  entirely  disregarded.  The  one 
below,  table  II,  has  been  drawn  up  to  show  the  standard  of  wages 
paid  in  the  three  largest  cities  in  the  state. 

Table  II. 

SHOWING    CUMULATIVE    PER    CENT.    OF    WORKERS    IN    THREE 

LARGEST   CITIES   OF   THE   STATE    IN    VARIOUS   WAGE 

GROUPS,   CLASSIFIED    BY    INDUSTRIES. 


INDUSTRY 

Per  Cent.  Receiving 
Under  $8 

Per  Cent.  Receiving 
Under  $10 

Seat- 
tle 

Ta- 
coma 

Spo- 
kane 

Seat- 
tle 

Ta- 
coma 

Spo- 
kane 

Mercantile  Stores 

23.1 
42.6 
23.3 

40.1 
32.4 
39.7 

33.5 
48.1 
34.3 

54.1 
70.2 
59.3 

61. 

69.4 

87.4 

58.6 
76.9 

63.3 

INDUSTRY 

Per  Cent.  Receiving 
$10  and  Over 

Wage  Rating  of  Cities 

Seat- 
tle 

Ta- 
coma 

Spo- 
kane 

Highest 

Second 

Lowest 

Mercantile  Stores. 
Factories 

45.9 
29.8 
40.7 

39.0 
30.6 
12.6 

41.4 
23.1 
36.7 

Seattle 

Tacoma 

Seattle 

Spokane 

Seattle 

Spokane 

Tacoma 
Spokane 
Tacoma 

Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  17 

WAGES. 

The  lowest  wage  recorded  was  $3  a  week,  but  this  does  not 
include  wholesale  millinery  houses  and  retail  millinery  shops  some 
of  whom  employ  apprentices  at  $1.50  a  week.  The  wage  rate  most 
generally  received  is  approximately  $8  a  week.  55.6%  of  mer- 
cantile store  employes,  71.2%  of  factory  employes,  and  72.4% 
of  laundry  employes  earn  less  than  $10.00  a  week. 

CONDITIONS  OF   LABOR. 

Conditions  of  labor  in  the  State  of  Washington  are  very 
fair.  A  detailed  account  of  conditions  as  they  were  seen  in 
sixty  (60)  establishments  in  the  state  where  women  are  working 
is  found  in  Section  III. 

COST  OF   LIVING. 

Two  averages  obtained  from  entirely  different  sets  of  figures 
estimated  the  minimum  annual  cost  of  living  for  an  employe  in 
a  mercantile  store  to  be  $523.27  and  $568.28. 

Factory  employes  estimated  the  necessary  cost  of  their  liv- 
ing at  $489.2-1  a  year  and  laundry  employes  at  $499.27  a  year. 

PERSONAL   COMMENTS. 

Much  light  on  individual  struggles  of  employes  and  the 
attitude  of  employers  toward  minimum  wage  legislation  was 
given  by  means  of  personal  observations  written  on  the  reverse 
side  of  the  Cost  of  Living  blanks.  A  number  of  those  are  given 
in  Section  V. 

A  number  of  practical  questions  present  themselves  in  view 
of  the  proposed  re-adjustment  of  wage  rates.  Several  of  these 
subjects  are  discussed  in  Section  VI. 


18 


State  of  Washington 


Section  II. 
WAGES. 

MERCANTILE  STORES. 

Wage  schedules  of  5,323  employes  in  mercantile  stores 
throughout  the  state  are  tabulated.  Of  these,  168  came  from 
clerks  in  5,  10  and  15c  stores  and  will  be  discussed  under  a  sep- 
arate heading.  Table  III  below  gives  information  concerning 
5,155  employes,  both  minors  and  adults,  who  were  employed  in 
retail  stores,  exclusive  of  the  5,  10  &  15c  stores.  In  the  classi- 
fication of  minors  and  adults,  a  minor  is  any  girl  under  the  age 
of  18  years. 

Table  III. 

WAGE  SCHEDULE  OF  5,155  FEMALE  EMPLOYES  IN   MERCANTILE 
ESTABLISHMENTS    IN    WASHINGTON. 


Un- 

$4.00 

$5.00 

$6.00 

$7.00 

$8.00 

$9.00 

Total 

der 

to 

to 

to 

to 

to 

to 

under 

$4.00 

$4.95 

$5.95 

$6.95 

$7.95 

$8.95 

$9.95 

$10 

Under 

18  yrs.. 

25 

97 

121 

200 

94 

48 

14 

599 

Over 

18  yrs.. 

25 
50 

140 

99 

332 

488 

660 

620 

2,267 

Total. 

220 

532 

582 

708 

634 

2,866 

Total 
$10  or 
over 


12 
2,277 
2,289 


Three  dollars  a  week  is  the  beginning  wage  in  some  depart- 
ment stores  in  Washington.  Out  of  the  total,  5,155  workers,  25 
minors  and  25  adults  were  receiving  $3  a  week.  These  are 
wrappers  or  errand  girls  whose  positions  occasionally  require 
only  swiftness  of  foot  or  of  hand.  In  some  establishments 
though,  (the  girl  who  wraps  the  articles  must  inspect  them,  meas- 
ure each  yard  which  passes  through  her  fingers  and  see  that 
the  check-has  been  added  correctly.  This  removes  her  from  the 
position  of  a  mere  automaton  to  that  of  a  responsible  overseer. 
In  the  offices  too,  we  find  girls  Avho  begin  at  less  than  $20.00  a 
month   tabulating   checks    on   machines.      Advancement    here   is 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  19 

slow,  much  to  the  disappointment  of  some  girls  who  think  that 
if  they  can  start  in  the  office  they  have  an  excellent  chance  to 
work  up  to  a  better  position.  Until  we  come  to  the  group  earn- 
ing $9.00  a  week,  we  find  the  girls  who  are  less  poorly  paid  in- 
creasing steadily  in  number.  This  report  shows  that  there  are 
over  400  girls  earning  less  than  $6  a  week  and  over  900  earning 
less  than  $7.00  a  week.  When  the  $9.00  a  week  wage  has  been 
reached  the  number  in  each  group  begins  to  decline.  $8.00  a 
week  is  the  highest  wage  to  which  a  great  many  of  the  girls 
attain.  This  does  not  permit  them  to  obtain  the  necessaries  of 
decent  subsistence.  Out  of  the  total  5,155,  we  find  over  half,  or 
55.6  per  cent.,  receiving  less  than  $10.00  a  week,  a  conservative 
estimate,  as  we  shall  see,  of  a  living  wage,  and  44.1  per  cent,  re- 
ceiving over  $10.00  a  week. 

EFFICIENCY  NOT  ALWAYS  THE  STANDARD. 

A  frequent  claim  made  by  managers  of  department  stores 
is  that  close  watch  is  kept  on  the  sales  of  every  clerk.  Each  one 
is  expected  to  sell  a  sufficient  amount  so  that  her  salary  will  not 
average  above  a  certain  per  cent,  of  her  sales.  The  lower  she 
can  bring  her  per  cent.,  the  better  saleswoman  she  is.  Managers 
state  further  that,  whenever  a  clerk's  sales  improve  noticeably, 
she  is  called  to  the  office  and  voluntarily  given  a  proportionate 
raise.  In  a  very  few  instances  this  is  found  to  be  true.  In  the 
majority  of  cases  the  young  woman  clerk  has  to  ask  for  each 
increase  of  salary  that  she  receives.  Some  timid  ones  work  on 
from  year  to  year  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  refusal.  The  girl 
who  succeeds  in  securing  the  raise  may  not  be  a  more  proficient 
saleswoman  but  she  realizes  her  worth  and  prefers  to  look  for 
another  position  rather  than  to  stay  at  one  level.  When  convinced 
of  her  ability  to  find  other  work,  her  employers  sometimes  grant 
her  request  rather  than  lose  her.  Instances  are  known  where  old 
and  trusted  employes,  who  had  been  given  a  vacation  in  the  dull 
winter  season,  were  advanced  $20.00  a  month  without  question 
when  rival  firms  offered  that  inducement. 

One  of  the  real  forces  in  determining  the  wages  is  the  buyer 
or  head  of  the  department.      Naturally  he  sees  the  woman  at 


20  State  of  Washington 


work  and  learns  her  qualifications.  It  is  to  his  advantage,  how- 
ever, to  have  his  department  make  an  excellent  showing  and,  if 
the  wages  can  be  kept  down,  the  returns  will  figure  higher. 
Some  realize  that  the  more  efficient  the  clerk,  the  greater  the 
output  of  the  department  will  be.  Further,  that  efficiency,  phy- 
sical, mental  and  moral,  is  encouraged  by  an  increase  in  wages. 
Personal  dislike  on  the  part  of  the  head  of  the  department  for 
an  individual  too  frequently  forces  capable  girls  out  of  their 
positions. 

Amount  of  sales  is  not  always  a  fair  basis  on  which  to  estab- 
lish a  wage.  The  stock  in  certain  departments  requires  much 
careful  cleaning  and  arranging  and  a  good  stock  girl  is  abso- 
lutely necessary.  An  illustration  of  this  is  the  jewelry  depart- 
ment, which  is  one  of  the  most  seasonal  in  a  store.  Summer 
sales  are  very  small  but  the  stock  must  be  attentively  looked 
after  all  of  the  time.  In  the  cloak  and  suit  department  how- 
ever, where  sales  are  large  and  the  season  much  longer,  stock 
boys  or  girls  are  employed  whose  sole  business  is  to  come  after 
the  clerk  and  hang  up  garments  as  soon  as  a  customer  is  served. 
The  notion  department  is  another  place  where  much  work  on 
the  part  of  the  girls,  brings  small  results.  Here  sales  fall  as 
low  as  one  penny  and  the  average  probably  does  not  go  much 
higher  than  twenty-five  cents.  Moreover,  a  deal  of  patience 
and  tact  is  sometimes  required  to  please  a  customer  with  a 
match  in  a  spool  of  silk  or  the  width  of  a  strip  of  elastic. 

Another  fact  which  would  seem  to  disprove  the  statement 
that  women  are  advanced  as  fast  as  their  efficiency  permits  is 
the  rule,  written  or  understood,  that  wage  rates  are  to  be  ab- 
solutely confidential  between  employer  and  employe.  The  fol- 
lowing is  quoted  from  an  application  blank:  "Salary  and 
other  matters  pertaining  to  your  employment  are  absolutely 
confidential."  One  can  understand  from  the  employe's  view 
point  that  her  salary  is  a  personal  affair  which  she  may  divulge 
if  she  sees  fit.  Employers  claim  that  if  they  permitted  women 
workers  to  discuss  salaries  there  would  be  constant  turmoil. 
This  might  be  expected  were  the  standard  of  compensation  any- 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


21 


thing  but  that  of  efficiency.  But  if  a  woman  could  be  shown  a 
reason  for  her  lower  wage,  such  as  lower  sales,  indifference  to- 
wards customers,  or  untidy  appearance,  we  believe  that  she 
would  shortly  bring  herself  up  to  the  better  standard. 

WAGES  IN   5-,  10-  AND   15-CENT  STORES. 

Wages  in  5,  10  and  15c  stores  have  always  been  shockingly 
low.  Managers  justify  this  condition  with  the  statement  that 
their  stores  are  training  schools  for  girls  who  wish  to  fit  them- 
selves to  be  first-class  saleswomen,  who,  when  they  leave  their 
establishments  can  demand  a  much  higher  wage  from  "regular" 
department  stores  because  they  are  "experienced." 


Table  IV. 

CUMULATIVE    WAGE    SCHEDULE    OF    168    FEMALE    EMPLOYES 

IN  5-  AND  10-CENT  STORES. 

Under  $5 
a  week 

Under  $6 
a  week 

Under  $7 
a  week 

Under  $8 
a  week 

$8  or 
over 

Under  18  years. . . . 
Over  18  years 

37 
21 

56 

47 

63 
81 

64 
94 

None 
10 

Table  IV  shows  the  wages  received  by  168  girls  in  5,  10 
and  15c  stores  in  Washington.  Of  these  168,  90  per  cent,  of  the 
adults  and  all  of  the  minors  receive  less  than  $8.00  a  week, 
and  144,  or  85.5  per  cent,  receive  less  than  $1.00  a  day.  That 
dishonesty  frequently  results  from  the  employment  of  irre- 
sponsible and  under  paid  girls  is  admitted  by  those  in  charge. 
The  cash  register  in  each  department  makes  it  possible  for  the 
clerk  to  ring  up  a  false  amount  and  conceal  the  change  in 
shoes,  hair  or  low  necked  blouse.  Discrimination  in  the  size  of 
orders  to  friends  is  another  source  of  loss  to  the  firm.  Some 
managers  are  wise  enough  to  admit  that  to  pay  higher  wages 
and  insist  upon  better  standards  of  salesmanship  and  honesty 
would  be  money  in  their  pockets. 


22  State  of  Washington 

A  glance  around  any  5,  10  and  15c  store  will  show  that  the 
vast  majority  of  employes  are  drawn  from  the  last  class  that 
slipped  from  the  schoolroom,  more  often  from  the  eighth  than 
from  the  twelfth  grade.  Naturally  too,  the  great  majority  of 
them  live  at  home.  When  the  more  ambitious  ones,  who  give  the 
best  they  have  to  the  firm,  realize  that  a  long  period  may  be 
spent  here  with  no  appreciable  gain  in  salesmanship  or  financial 
income,  they  leave,  and  start  practically  afresh  with  a  strange 
concern. 

HOURS   IN    MERCANTILE   STORES. 

There  need  be  little  discussion  of  the  question  of  hours 
since  the  eight-hour  day  is  in  force  in  this  state  and  the  Com- 
mission has  no  power  to  make  different  arrangements.  Over- 
time is  still  found  in  the  rush  seasons  such  as  the  Christmas  holi- 
days and  again  after  the  January  sales  when  yearly  stock  tak- 
ing begins.  This  is  an  abuse  which  it  is  difficult  to  overcome. 
It  is  practically  impossible  to  induce  an  employe  to  testify 
against  her  firm.  If  summoned  into  court  she  will  often  lie 
rather  than  lose  her  position.  The  women  workers  protest 
against  overtime  but  dare  do  no  more  than  write  anonymous 
letters  to  the  authorities  about  it. 

With  three  exceptions,  Saturday  night  work  had  been  gen- 
eral in  all  stores  until  the  beginning  of  the  current  year.  Jan- 
uary 1st  saw  a  move  forward  to  the  custom  of  dismissing  clerks 
at  6  p.  m.  in  Seattle  and  Spokane.  The  stores  in  small  towns 
throughout  the  state  close  at  half  past  nine  and  ten  o'clock. 
No  movement  "forward"  to  close  Saturday  evenings  has  been 
started  in  the  towns.  The  clerks  who  work  at  night,  work  in 
shifts  of  eight  hours.  The  eight-hour  day  in  Washington  does 
not  mean  a  forty-eight  hour  week ;  seven  days  of  eight  hours 
each  are  permissible  under  the  law.  Telephone  companies,  res- 
taurants and  hotels  are  the  only  industries  at  present  taking 
advantage  of  this. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


23 


FACTORIES. 

Information  concerning  the  wages  paid  in  manufacturing 
establishments  was  gained  in  three  ways:  (1)  By  requesting 
employers  to  fill  blanks  calling  for  the  number  of  femal  em- 
ployes, the  wage  paid,  and  whether  each  was  employed  by  piece 
rate  or  by  time  rate.  (2)  By  blanks  sent  to  employes  asking 
for  the  present  wage  and  the  first  wage  earned.  (3)  By  per- 
sonal interviews  ascertaining  not  only  the  wage  but  the  condi- 
tions of  work,  home  surroundings  and  individual  efficiency. 
Wage  schedules  discussed  in  Table  V  are  from  industries  enum- 
erated in  detail  in  Tables  VIII  to  XV,  inclusive. 


Table  V. 

WEEKLY    WAGE    SCHEDULE    OF    1,753    FEMALE    EMPLOYES    IN 
FACTORIES   SHOWING   NUMBER    RECEIVING: 


Under 

$5 

$5  to 
$5.95 

$6  to 
$6.95 

$7  to 
$7.95 

$8  to 
$8.95 

$9  to 
$9.95 

$10.00 
or  over 

69 

121 

226 

256 

410 

166 

505 

Table  V  shows  that  something  under  $5.00  is  the  beginning 
wage  for  69  out  of  1,753  factory  workers.  The  factory  blanks 
returned  revealed  the  fact  that  in  several  instances  this  wage  is 
$3.00  a  week — 50c  for  8  hours  work  or  6V2C  an  hour!  There, 
are  few  persons  in  every-day  life  who  would  think  of  asking  a 
child  to  spend  an  hour  on  an  errand  and  pay  him  not  more  than 
5  cents.  What  is  to  be  thought  of  the  conditions  in  which  girls 
of  16  years  and  over  are  employed  day  after  day  at  steady,  and 
often  difficult  work,  for  little  more  than  that  sum?  $4.00  is  the 
lowest  wage  offered  in  other  factories,  but  $5.00  is  the  more 
common  beginning  wage.  Out  of  the  69  receiving  less  than 
$5.00  a  week,  25  showed  a  wage  of  less  than  $4.00.  Thirty-six 
were  piece  workers,  which  fact  accounts  somewhat  for  the  num- 
ber receiving  this  low  wage.  Moreover,  among  these  69,  25  were 
under  18  years  of  age  and  44  over  18  years.  Employers  whose 
first  wage  for  time  workers  is  $6.00  a  week  say  that  piece  work- 


24 


State  of  Washington 


ers  who  cannot  make  $6.00  a  week  after  the  first  month  are  not 
worth  keeping.  Table  VI  gives  the  wages  and  cumulative  per 
cent,  of  employes  receiving  each  wage. 

Table  VI. 

CUMULATIVE    PER    CENT.    OF    1,753    FEMALE    EMPLOYES    IN 

FACTORIES   RECEIVING: 


Under 

$5.00 

Under 
$6.00 

Under 

$7.00 

Under 
$8.00 

Under 
$9.00 

Under 
$10.00 

3.9 

10.8 

23.7 

38.3 

61.7 

71.2 

Under  $10.00 

$10.00.  or  more. 

Number     1,248  505 

Per  Cent 71.2  28.8 

Table  VII  is  interesting  in  that  it  shows  the  relative  number 
of  women  employed  at  time  and  piece  work.  We  find  over  twice 
as  many  who  are  paid  by  time  rate  as  by  piece  rate.  By  com- 
putations made  from  Tables  VIII  to  XVI,  inclusive,  we  learn 
further  that  two-fifths  of  the  time  workers  and  one-third  of  the 
piece  workers  receive  $9.00  or  more  a  week,  an  approach  to  a 
living  wage.  This  means  that  three-fifths  of  the  adult  time 
workers  get  less  than  $9.00  a  week. 

Table  VII. 

TABLE    SHOWING    RELATIVE    NUMBER    OF    1,753    FEMALE    EM- 
PLOYES   IN    FACTORIES    WORKING    BY    TIME    AND    PIECE 
RATE   AND   CLASSIFIED   AS    MINORS   AND   ADULTS. 

Piece.  Time. 

Minors    (under   18) 88  177 

Adults   (over  18) 445  1,043 

Totals 533  1,220 

Tables  VIII  to  XVI,  inclusive,  give  the  wages  of  3,011  fe- 
male workers  in  factories,  classified  according  to  the  nature  of 
the  industry,  the  rate  of  pay  and  whether  the  worker  is  a  minor 
or  adult.  These  tables  are  arranged  as  far  as  possible  in  the 
order  in  which  the  largest  per  cent,  under  $6.00  and  the  smallest 
per  cent,  earning  $10.00  and  over  a  week  appear.  Tables  XV 
and  XVI  are  put  at  the  end  of  the  list  because  they  are  indus- 
tries which  operate  not  more  than  six  months  in  the  year  and 
which,  because  of  the  perishable  nature  of  the  material,  are 
exempt  from  the  eight-hour  law  for  women. 


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26  State  of  Washington 

a 

Paper  and  paper  box  factories  have  the  greatest  number  of 
workers  receiving  less  than  $6.00  a  week.  (Table  VIII)  The 
largest  group  of  workers  is  that  receiving  between  $6.00  to 
$8.00  a  week.  Out  of  the  116  workers,  one-fourth  (25.3  per 
cent.),  receive  less  than  $6.00  per  week,  while  23  per  cent,  re- 
ceive $10.00  or  over. 

Candy  and  cracker  factories  have  nearly  one-fifth,  17  per 
cent.,  earning  less  than  $6.00  a  week  and  a  slightly  larger  pro- 
portion, 19  per  cent.,  earning  $10.00  or  over,  which  means 
that  the  very  large  majority  of  candy  and  cracker  shop  em- 
ployes, 63  per  cent.,  are  earning  between  $6.00  and  $10.00  a 
week.  The  largest  number  of  workers  in  any  one  wage  group 
here  are  those  earning  btween  $6.00  and  $7.00  a  week.  These 
numbered  112  girls. 

The  Food  Stuffs  schedule  includes  tea,  coffee,  spices,  extracts 
and  peanut  butter.  The  wages  here  do  not  seem  to  vary 
greatly  and  are  generally  low.  But  a  small  per  cent.,  3.3,  are 
earning  under  $6.00  a  week,  while  a  correspondingly  small 
number  are  earning  over  $10.00.  $25.00  a  month  is  a  fre- 
quent beginning  wage.  The  work  is  simple,  requires  no  skill 
and  is  all  done  "by  time."  One  girl  was  interviewed  who 
started  with  one  firm  three  years  ago  at  $25.00  a  month  and 
is  at  present  earning  $35.00.  Some  firms  raise  girls  at  the 
rate  of  $2.50  a  month  every  six  months. 

Milk  condensing  plants  in  the  state  returned  87  blanks.  Out 
of  this  number  2.5  per  cent,  earned  under  $6.00  a  week.  One 
firm  starts  no  woman  on  a  wage  of  less  than  15  cents  an  hour. 
All  beginners  are  kept  on  this  for  a  month.  If  they  "make 
good"  they  are  raised  to  16  cents  an  hour.  Certain  classes  of 
work  never  receive  more  than  17  cents  an  hour  which  for  a  48 
hour  week  amounts  to  $8.40.  This  is  in  the  can  making  room 
where  two  girls  have  merely  to  sit  back  and  watch  the  cans  pass 
through  the  machine.  If  anything  goes  wrong  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  girls  to  stop  the  machine.  So  little  is  required  here  that  the 
investigator  was  told  that  they  bring  their  fancy  work  and  sew 
while  on  duty.     While  this  responsibility  involves  absolutely  no 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  27 

work,  the  noise  from  the  rattling  tin,  the  rolling  cans,  tops 
and  bottoms  in  several  stages  of  manufacture,  would  be  too 
much  for  the  nerves  of  many  a  strong  person.  One-fifth  of  the 
workers  in  this  trade  (Table  XI)  receives  $10.00  or  more  a  week. 

$5.00  a  week  is  the  beginning  wage  in  Shoe  and  Glove  manu- 
facturing plants.  The  former  industry  is  more  complicated  and 
offers  a  greater  variety  of  departments  for  women's  work  than 
the  latter.  The  shoe  industry,  like  that  of  coffee,  tea  and  spice 
packing,  has  a  narrow  range  of  wages.  Only  one  girl  and  that 
a  minor  was  earning  under  $6.00  a  week  and  but  21  per  cent,  of 
the  total  earned  $10.00  or  over.  One-half  of  those  reporting, 
or  21,  earned  between  $8.00  and  $10.00  a  week  which  is  a  fair 
record. 

Garment  and  Textile  factory  schedules  were  tabulated  to- 
gether. Though  the  nature  of  the  work  is  entirely  different,  an 
advanced  degree  of  skill  is  required  in  all  first  class  employes. 
Garment  and  textile  factories  in  Washington  may  be  classed 
as  industries  which  recognize  that  efficiency  depends  upon  a 
decent  subsistence.  Only  3  per  cent,  in  garment  and  textile 
factories  start  for  less  than  $6.00  a  week.  This  would  seem 
bad  enough  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  some  of  these  are 
minors. 

Nearly  one-half  of  the  garment  and  textile  workers,  48.5 
per  cent.,  earn  $10.00  a  week  or  over.  A  characteristic  of  the 
garment  making  trade  is  that  the  work  is  highly  specialized 
and  furthermore  is  done  on  highly  speeded  machines.  A  result 
of  this  is  that  women  of  much  experience  on  one  class  of  work 
develop  a  speed  which  brings  them  from  $20.00  to  $25.00 
weekly.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  weavers  in  woolen  mills 
where  processes  which  women  handle  are  not  so  many  nor  as 
a  whole  so  complicated  as  in  the  garment  factories.  On  the 
contrary  one  or  two  of  the  processes  here  are  extremely  simple, 
but  others  demand  sufficient  skill  to  bring  in  high  wages. 

In  the  book  binding  trade  2.5  per  cent,  start  for  less  than 
$6.00  a  week  but  none  of  those  are  adults.  Some  firms  were 
found  whose  beginning  wage  was  $7.00  and  one  whose  first  wage 


28  State  of  Washington 

was  $8.00  a  week.  69  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  women 
employed  at  book  binding  earn  $10.00  a  week  or  over,  (Table 
XIV)  while  one-half  of  those  reporting  earned  $11  or  over. 
One  further  fact  in  connection  with  this  trade  is  that  $11.00 
a  week  may  well  be  named  as  a  maximum  wage  for  women  em- 
ployes. This  excludes  linotype  operators  who  are  really 
printers  and  who  advance  to  professional  skill  and  a  wage  of 
$5.00  a  day.  Women  who  have  spent  ten  and  twelve  years  at 
book  binding  say  that  except  for  the  opportunity  furnished 
by  a  forelady's  position,  much  difficulty  is  experienced  in  rising 
above  $11.00  a  week  wage.  Investigation  proved  that  firms 
doing  very  high  class  work  have  $14.00  as  a  stated  maximum 
for  binders  on  machines.  These  are  so  few,  however,  that  the 
statement  of  $11.00  as  a  general  maximum  is  not  disturbed. 

Fruit  and  fish  canneries  have  been  grouped  together  because 
of  the  seasonal  character  of  the  work.  Both  industries,  while  in 
operation,  employ  a  large  number  of  workers.  Fruit  canneries 
reported  334  and  fish  canneries  reported  1526.  Fruit  canning 
(Table  XV)  calls  for  less  skilled  work  from  women  than  fish 
canning.  This  accounts  partly  for  the  fact  that  11  per  cent, 
of  those  in  the  industry  work  for  less  than  $6.00  a  week  and 
that  only  11  per  cent,  receive  $10.00  or  more  a  week.  We  find 
that  a  large  per  cent  of  those  earning  less  than  $6.00  a  week 
are  adults, — 29  adults  to  9  minors.  It  is  well  known  that  a 
certain  per  cent  of  women  who  work  in  fruit  canneries  are  merely 
"summer  workers", — women  in  families  who  wish  to  help  out  the 
income  by  this  extra  work.  It  is  claimed  by  cannery  men  that 
a  large  per  cent  of  the  workers  are  women  who  are  not  adept 
at  picking  fruit,  who  are  too  old  or  too  young  to  be  good 
workers.  Most  of  the  work  is  done  at  piece  rates.  (79  out  of 
334  were  time  workers.)  The  amounts  that  some  of  the 
"poorer"  workers  do  in  a  day  would  indicate  that  the  rate  of 
wages  was  more  at  fault  than  the  speed  of  the  workers. 

The  fish  canneries  have  a  much  greater  per  cent,  68.5,  who 
earn  $10.00  or  over  a  week.  This  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that 
salmon   canneries   find  the   same  workers   returning  year  after 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  29 

year,  and  to  the  fact  also  that  the  industry  is  not  covered  by 
the  eight  hour  law.  As  many  of  the  canneries  operate  at  least 
part  of  the  force  on  Sunday  during  the  busy  season,  some 
women  work  over  10  hours  a  day  for  seven  days  a  week  at  work 
which  is  described  as  revolting  to  the  average  human  being. 
The  earnings  tabulated  here  therefore  are  the  results  not  of 
a  normal  but  of  a  forced  day's  work. 

Table  XVII. 

TABLE  SHOWING   HOURS  WORKED  BY  1,420  FISH   CANNERY 
EMPLOYES  IN   ONE  WEEK. 

48  hours  and   under 345 

49  to  56   hours 399 

57  to   64  hours 457 

65  to   69   hours 41 

70  hours   119 

75  hours   59 

Total 1.420 

Statistics  collected  concerning  the  hours  of  1420  fish  cannery 
employes  showed  that  of  that  number  only  345  worked  the 
normal  or  less  than  the  normal  week  of  48  hours.  The  remain- 
ing 1075  varied  from  49  to  75  hours  a  week,  an  average  for 
some  of  twelve  and  one-half  hours  a  day  on  the  basis  of  a  six- 
day  week. 

No  statistics  were  returned  from  tobacco  factories,  but 
managers  in  this  industry  state  that  they  do  not  employ  girls 
who  are  not  living  at  home  as  the  wages  will  not  sustain  a  self- 
supporting  girl.  The  conditions  of  the  work  are  anything  but 
conducive  to  the  health  of  those  who  strip  and  sort  the  tobacco 
leaves. 

LAUNDRIES. 

WAGES. 

The  similarity  of  the  standard  of  wages  in  factories  and 
laundries  is  remarkable.  We  found  that  (Table  VI)  71.2  per 
cent,  of  factory  employes  earn  less  than  $10.00  a  week.  From 
Table  XIX  we  see  that  72.4  per  cent,  of  laundry  workers  earn 
less  than  $10.00  a  week,  while  27.6  per  cent,  are  above  that 
standard. 


30 


State  of  Washington 


Table  XVIII. 

WEEKLY    WAGE    SCHEDULE    OF    2,304    FEMALE     EMPLOYES    IN 

LAUNDRIES    IN    WASHINGTON. 

NUMBER    RECEIVING: 


Under 

$5 

$5  to 
$5.95 

$6  to 
$6.95 

$7  to 
$7.95 

$8  to 
$8.95 

$9  to 
$9.95 

$10.00 
or  over 

31 

89 

224 

560 

514 

250 

636 

Number. 

Total  under  $10 1,668 

Total   $10  or  over 636 

Totals 2,304 


Per  Cent. 
72.4 
27.6 


100 


Eleven  workers  in  the  laundries  reported  receiving  less  than 
$4J.OO  a  week — three  of  these  were  minors  and  eight  were  adults. 
Table  XVIII  gives  the  wage  groups  and  the  number  in  each  of 
2,304  workers.  Thirty-one  earned  less  than  $5.00  a  week.  These 
may  have  been  short  hour  workers  but  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
12  cents  an  hour  has  been  the  wage  for  unskilled  workers,  $5.76 
a  week  would  be  the  most  that  these  girls  could  earn  if  they 
put  in  a  full  week,  which  is  not  usual.  Table  XIX  shows  that 
61.5  per  cent,  are  earning  less  than  $8.95  a  week  or  less  than 
$1.50  a  day. 

Table   XIX. 

WEEKLY    WAGE    SCHEDULE    OF    2,304    FEMALE     EMPLOYES    IN 

LAUNDRIES   IN   WASHINGTON. 

CUMULATIVE  TABLE  SHOWING   PER   CENT.   RECEIVING: 


$4.95 
or  less 

$5.95 
or  less 

$6.95 
or  less 

$7.95 
or  less 

$8.95 
or  less 

$9.95 
or  less 

$10.00 
or  over 

1.3 

5.2 

14.9 

39.2 

61.5 

72.4 

27.6 

HOURS. 

The  quest  ion  of  hours  and  irregularity  of  work  are  so  closely 
connected  with  that  of  wages  in  the  laundering  industry  that  it 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  31 

is  impossible  to  discuss  the  latter  without  giving  some  account 
of  the  former. 

Three  systems  of  remuneration  are  in  vogue.  The  first 
and  oldest  is  a  combination  of  the  piece  and  time  work  system ; 
the  second  places  everything  on  the  piece-work  basis,  while  the 
third  disregards  piece-work  altogether  and  puts  every  employe 
on  a  straight  time  salary  by  the  week. 

The  third  system  is  the  one  which  laundrymen  have  been 
contending  would  ruin  their  business  if  it  were  adopted.  Their 
reason  is  that  the  volume  of  business  varies  much  from  week 
to  week ;  they  cannot  be  expected  to  pay  for  slack  seasons  which 
affect  them  as  well  as  the  girls.  Another  reason  is  that  the  piece- 
work system  increases  the  efficiency  of  the  workers  whose  earn- 
ings then  depend  upon  how  hard  they  work. 

Not  much  need  be  said  in  explanation  of  those  laundries 
whose  work  is  arranged  entirely  by  piece-work.  Computation 
of  wages  has  been  simple  in  departments  such  as  hand  and 
body  ironing  where  each  woman  handles  as  many  garments  as 
she  is  able,  or  as  may  be  furnished  her  when  work  is  slack.  But 
in  the  mangle  room  where  shakers,  feeders  and  folders  in  team 
work,  handle  large  and  small  pieces,  where  the  individual  skill 
required  is  reduced  to  a  minimum,  the  problem  of  paying  by  the 
number  of  pieces  handled  is  somewhat  more  complicated.  This 
has  been  taken  care  of  in  some  laundries  by  reducing  all  articles 
to  the  towel  basis  and  by  establishing  a  rate  of  80  cents  for 
1,000  towels.  One  sheet  equals  5  towels,  a  bedspread  20,  1  pillow 
case  2,  etc.  Six  girls  form  a  crew  at  each  mangle :  Two  shakers, 
two  feeders,  two  folders,  and  they  keep  account  of  the  day's 
work.  At  the  end  of  the  day,  the  amount  made  by  the  crew  is 
divided  equally  among  the  six  girls. 

On  the  other  hand  one  manager  who  recently  placed  all  of 
his  employes  on  a  weekly  basis  said  that  he  felt  certain  that  the 
system  would  be  a  success.  He  did  not  fear  a  decrease  in 
efficiency  of  his  employes  as  he  thought  that  a  guaranteed  wage 
would  make  them  more  interested  in  their  work.  It  is  encourag- 
ing to  see  the  weekly  system  of  pay   adopted  by  laundrymen 


32 


State  of  Washington 


with  years  of  experience  who  would  not  adopt  it  if  they  could  not 

make  it  pay. 

Table  XX. 

TABLE    SHOWING    WEEKLY    HOURS    OF    WORK    REPORTED    BY 
2,185  LAUNDRY  WORKERS— CLASSIFIED  BY  OCCUPATIONS. 


I 
Number  of  Employes  and  Per  Cent.  Working 

No.  of 
em- 

Occupa- 

Less than 

33  to  40 

41  to  44 

45  to  48 

tion 

ployes 

32  hours  a 
week 

hours 

hours 

hours 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 
1.07 

No. 

% 

No 

7c 

Mangle 

534 

7 

1.3 

67 

53 

9.9 

407 

76.2 

Starchers 

95 

0 

0.0 

12 

12.6 

33 

34.7 

50 

52.6 

Markers 

&  Sorters 

173 

5 

2.9 

18 

10.4 

12 

6.9 

138 

79.7 

Folders    . 

24 

0 

0.0 

6 

25. 

12 

50. 

6 

25. 

Ironers  .. 

571 

21 

3.7 

122 

21.4 

174 

30.5 

254 

44.5 

Sewing  & 

Mending. 

19 

0 

0.0 

5 

26.3 

3 

15.8 

11 

59.9 

Fore- 

ladies.  . 

18 

0 

0.0 

4 

22.2 

3 

16.6 

11 

61.1 

Office   . . . 

69 

0 

0.0 

5 

7.3 

1 

1.4 

63 

91.3 

Pressers 

and    Dye 

Work    ... 

109 

0 

0.0 

5 

4.6 

33 

30.3 

71 

65.1 

Miscel.    .. 

573 

22 

55 

3.8 
2.5 

124 

21.6 
17.0 

141 

24.6 

286 
1,297 

49.9 

Totals.  . 

2,185 

368 

465 

21.0 

59.0 

The  number  of  hours  a  week  a  laundry  worker  may  put  in 
is  the  final  gauge  of  the  amount  in  the  pay  envelope.  Table  XX 
shows  the  number  of  weekly  hours  of  work  reported  by  2,185 
laundry  workers  classified  by  occupation.  A  glance  at  the 
table  shows  us  that  2.5  per  cent,  of  the  workers  put  in  less 
than  4  days  a  week.  Of  those  working  less  than  four  days  a 
week  the  ironers  as  a  single  group  are  greatest  in  numbers.  The 
last  column  of  Table  XX  shows  that  the  office  employes  are  the 
only  ones  who  approximate  a  full  week.  Next  to  them  are 
the  markers  and  sorters,  80  per  cent,  of  whom  work  between 
45  and  48  hours.  At  present  14  cents  is  the  lowest  rate  per 
hour  paid  in  some  laundries.  On  a  48-hour  week  at  14  cents  an 
hour  this  should  mean  that  no  laundry  employe  receives  less  than 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  33 

$6.50  a  week.  Yet  (Table  XVIII)  we  find  31  receiving  less  than 
$5.00  and  89  receiving  less  than  $6.00 ;  224  are  receiving  be- 
tween $6.00  and  $7.00  a  week,  making  a  total  of  444  who  are  re- 
ceiving less  than  $1.00  a  day.  Hourly  rates  range  as  high  as 
25  cents  an  hour  for  skilled  hand  ironers,  one-third  of  whom, 
however,  work  between  four  and  one-half  and  five  days  a  week 
and  over  one-half  of  whom  work  less  than  five  and  one-half  days 
a  week. 

Out  of  the  entire  2,304  reporting  wages,  149  were  minors. 
Of  these  2  were  working  by  the  piece.  Of  the  remaining  2,155 
adults,  131  were  piece  workers.  The  rest  were  paid  on  the 
hourly  basis. 

Looking  at  Table  XIX  we  find  that  out  of  over  2,300  work- 
ers, 72  per  cent,  or  nearly  three-fourths  are  receiving  less  than 
$10.00  a  week.  Thus  it  is  that  laundry  workers  complain  with 
reason  when  they  say  that  they  never  know  what  the  pay 
envelope  at  the  end  of  the  week  will  bring  and  would  not 
quarrel  with  the  rate  per  hour  so  much  if  they  could  be  certain 
of  a  regular  income  and  be  able  to  plan  somewhat  on  the  future. 


34  State  of  Washington 


Section  III. 

CONDITIONS  OF  LABOR. 

Parallel  with  the  evils  resulting  from  underpaid  work,  are 
the  evils  attendant  upon  insanitary  work  rooms.  Conditions 
in  Washington  cannot  be  described  as  a  whole  either  as  "very 
good''  or  "very  bad."  There  are  some  establishments  in  which 
many  devices  have  been  adopted  to  lessen  the  difficulties  of  the 
work  and  to  make  the  surroundings  pleasant  and  healthful. 
Others  are  indescribably  poor  and  in  these  comfort  and  con- 
venience receive  small  consideration.  There  are  certain  kinds  of 
work  which  at  the  best  are  extremely  wearing.  Laundry  work 
is  one  of  these. 

LAUNDRIES. 

Laundrymen  say  that  the  conditions  surrounding  the  work 
are  greatly  improved  today  over  those  of  twenty  years  ago, 
but  in  the  majority  of  the  establishments,  much  may  be  done  to 
make  the  work  lighter.  Some  of  the  evils  that  are  still  a  part 
of  the  work  are  the  excessive  heat,  clouds  of  steam,  damp  at- 
mosphere, strong  odors  from  disinfectants,  lack  of  good  cir- 
culation, extreme  physical  exertion  needed  to  run  some  of 
the  machines,  standing  on  concrete  floors  and  on  wet  wooden 
floors  and  handling  clothes  in  all  stages  of  filth. 

In  this  state  some  laundry  buildings  have  two  sides  built  al- 
most entirely  of  windows  with  exhaust  fans  so  arranged  on  the 
opposite  side  that  excellent  circulation  of  air  could  be  estab- 
lished. In  others  there  were  no  exhaust  fans  at  all ;  in  some  in- 
stances ceilings  were  high,  and  wall  and  ceilings  were  white- 
washed. Other  buildings  with  low  unfinished  ceilings  were  not 
much  better  than  old  shacks.  In  several  cases,  the  floors  of  the 
washroom  were  concrete,  but  the  remaining  sections  where  the 
women  stood  were  of  wood  which  is  much  easier  on  the  feet. 
In  others,  the  mangle  was  so  near  the  washing  machines, 
that  though  the  mangle  itself  and  the  mangle  girls  stood  on  the 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Com/mission  -'}"> 


wood  floor,  the  girls  shaking  out  the  articles  stood  in  water  on 
the  concrete  floor.  In  some  instances  where  the  manager 
proudly  showed  the  size  of  his  windows  and  the  ease  with  which 
they  swung  up,  he  had  not  one  asbestos  shield  on  a  body  ironer, 
nor  one  exhaust  pipe  for  steam  over  the  mangle.  In  other 
places  where  the  window  surface  was  smaller  and  the  general 
appearance  of  the  plants  shabbier,  both  asbestos  shields  with 
pipes  leading  from  them  were  on  the  body  ironers,  and  exhaust 
shields  and  pipes  gathered  the  steam  from  the  mangle.  The 
shield  mentioned  is  a  concave  piece  of  asbestos  bound  with 
zinc  or  tin  and  raised  slightly  above  the  large  gas  heated  roll 
used  for  ironing  the  body  of  the  shirt.  A  padded  roll  is  con- 
nected below  the  heated  roll  over  which  the  ironer  bends  when  at 
work.  A  lever  worked  by  foot  brings  the  two  rolls  together 
and  releases  them.  Besides  having  to  bear  the  heat  pouring  into 
her  face,  the  working  of  this  lever  is  a  difficult  task  for  a  woman. 
Some  managers  have  adopted  the  asbestos  shield  but  have  not 
added  the  extra  pipe  which  leads  the  heat  out  above  the  girls' 
head.  A  number  of  women  working  on  shielded  machines  were 
asked  whether  they  had  ever  worked,  on  body  ironers  which  had 
no  asbestos  shields  and  whether  they  noticed  the  difference  in 
heat.  In  every  case  the  women  said  that  there  was  a  very  great 
difference.  Several  laundrymen  were  asked  about  the  price  of 
these  shields;  in  no  instance  was  the  estimate  higher  than  $2.50 
each.  Shaking,  though  it  has  no  accompaniments  of  heat  or 
steam  is  one  of  the  hardest  though  most  unskilled  departments 
of  laundry  work.  It  seemed  to  the  investigator  in  several  in- 
stances that  but  little  thought  was  given  by  some  managements 
to  the  arrangement  of  machinery  so  that,  the  warmest  work 
might  be  nearest  the  light  and  air.  In  discussing  this  question 
with  laundrymen,  the  fact  came  out  that  machinery  is  usually 
arranged  so  that  the  least  amount  of  time  can  be  lost  in  the 
transit  of  goods  from  one  stage  of  laundering  to  another. 

Toilet,  conditions  in  some  establishments  were  very  good 
while  in  others  they  were  very  bad.  Some  firms  have  only  one 
toilet  on  a  floor  for  both  men   and   women  employes.     One  of 


36  State  of  Washington 

these  was  so  placed  that  the  women  had  to  pass  the  men  to 
reach  it.  Sanitary  drinking  fountains  in  the  center  of  the  room 
within  easy  reach  of  all  employes  was  a  very  commendable 
feature  in  one  plant.  In  another,  on  one  floor  the  employes  had 
to  draw  the  water  from  a  spoutless  pipe  that  hung  over  a 
barrel  in  the  engine  room.  This  plant  uses  peanut  shells  for 
fuel,  and  the  water  pipe  was  well  decorated  with  them.  Here, 
as  in  several  other  plants,  the  manager  stated  that  he  was 
putting  in  improvements.  One  does  not  wish  to  express  doubt 
of  the  good  intentions  of  these  men,  but  very  little  excuse  can 
be  made  for  the  presence  of  intolerable  sanitary  conditions.  In 
some  cases,  much  care  was  shown  in  the  provision  of  dressing 
and  cloak  rooms.  In  others  shoes  had  to  be  changed  in  the 
little  box  of  a  toilet,  and  left  there.  Hats  and  coats  were  in 
heaps  in  other  parts  of  the  room.  Some  firms  with  40  or  50  em- 
ployes on  two  floors,  had  provided  only  one  dressing  room  for 
both  groups.  Invariably  the  employes  on  the  floor  which  had  no 
dressing  room,  had  made  other,  poorer  arrangements  for  dis- 
posal of  clothes.  Dressing  in  the  one  room,  a  floor  removed  from 
their  work,  meant  loss  of  time,  confusion  and  dela}r  and  not 
without  reason  did  they  refuse  to  do  it.  Very  few  laundries 
furnished  accommodation  for  eating  lunches.  In  some  cases 
dressing  rooms  had  stools  and  occasionally  a  gas  stove  for  mak- 
ing coffee. 

Undoubtedly  the  Japanese  laundries  are  a  source  of  much 
trouble  to  white  laundry  men.  In  nearly  every  case  the  Japs 
employ  women  of  their  own  race  who  can  "no  savvy"  as  much 
as  the  men  when  they  wish.  A  plan  common  to  the  Japanese  laun- 
drymen  is  that  of  community  dining  room  and  sleeping  quarters 
over  the  laundry.  One  long  room  with  oil  cloth  covered  tables, 
sufficiently  long  to  accommodate  all  of  the  Jap  help,  serves 
as  both  kitchen  and  dining  room.  An  hour,  they  say,  is  taken 
for  lunch.  On  the  same  floor  are  the  sleeping  quarters.  In 
several  instances,  these  consisted  of  separate  rooms  on  two  sides 
of  a  long  hall.  In  one  instance  the  hall  opened  into  a  curtain- 
less  dormitorv  with  accommodations  for  seven  men.     Off  the  hall 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  37 

were  four  or  five  bedrooms  for  the  women  and  married  members 
of  the  crew.  One  toilet  served  all.  In  one  laundry  visited  where 
5  white  women  were  employed,  the  only  toilet  in  the  building  was 
the  one  upstairs  in  the  Japs'  quarters.  Some  of  the  women  said 
they  never  went  up  there. 

The  interesting  part  of  the  interviews  with  the  white  women 
employed  in  these  places  was  the  unanimous  statement  that  they 
preferred  to  work  for  the  Japanese.  All  were  being  paid 
straight  time  by  the  week ;  in  one  place,  one  woman  said 
that  sometimes  they  had  only  2  hours  work  a  day,  yet  they 
were  paid  just  the  same.  Every  morning  and  afternoon  a 
lunch  is  served  them  at  the  Japs'  expense.  Furthermore,  women 
here  and  in  another  laundry  said,  they  never  received  an  insult 
from  these  men  and  were  not  afraid  to  be  alone  with  them  as  they 
had  had  occasion  to  be  when  working  with  white  men.  The 
complaint  is  often  made  by  girls  in  "white"  laundries  that  they 
must  put  up  with  much  that  is  coarse  in  language  and  familiar 
handling  from  the  men  employes  if  they  are  to  hold  their  posi- 
tions. This  is  not  the  fact  in  every  case,  but  so  frequently  is 
the  complaint  made  that  one  cannot  disregard  it  altogether. 

FACTORIES. 

Factories  and  laundries  in  the  three  largest  cities  of  Wash- 
ington are  found  in  the  heart  of  the  business  district  and  in 
the  outskirts.  In  Seattle,  a  custom  exists,  common  on  the  east- 
ern coast,  of  placing  factories  in  "lofts,"  the  upper  stories  of 
business  buildings.  Tacoma  has  a  group  of  different  industries 
situated  near  together  in  one  end  of  the  city.  Spokane  manu- 
facturers seem  to  prefer  the  separate  roof.  In  the  last  named 
city  many  of  the  factories  are  within  ten  minutes'  walk  of  the 
business  section. 

The  housing  and  location  of  the  plants  with  reference  to 
center  or  suburb  of  the  city  is  mentioned  because  on  these  two 
characteristics  depend  much  that  pertains  to  the  welfare  of 
the  workers.  A  loft  factory  is  much  more  likely,  unless  it  is 
in  a  corner  building  to  be  dark  and  poorly  ventilated  than  is  a 


38  State  of  Washington 

detached  building.     Two  loft  buildings  which  were  visited  were 
corner  buildings  and  were  well  lighted  and  airy. 

Pleasures  and  hardships  of  work  vary  with  the  industry. 
Some  kinds  of  work  which  require  but  little  physical  exertion, 
drain  heavily  on  the  nerves.  Others  which  are  neither  physically 
nor  nervously  severe  are  monotonous  to  a  wearisome  degree. 
Some  work  which  is  clean,  permits  clean  surroundings ;  other 
lines  which  are  dirty,  degrade  a  worker  visibly.  Shoe  and  glove 
sewing,  garment  making  and  textile  weaving  are  lines  of  work 
which  are  clean  in  themselves  and  which  require  an  accurate  eye, 
quick  hand  and  ability  to  concentrate.  In  the  sewing  trades, 
nervous  diseases  follow  long  years  of  alert  attention  to  the 
high  speeded  machines.  The  noise  of  the  weaving  machines  in 
the  textile  factories  has  the  same  result.  Sometimes  this  does 
not  appear  until  the  worker  is  suddenly  forced  to  leave  the 
trade,  for  the  high  tension  under  which  she  works  serves  as  a 
stimulant.  Sanitary  conditions  in  needle  trades  in  the  state  with 
the  exception  of  one  or  two  plants  are  excellent.  In  one  of  these 
establishments  was  seen  the  only  couch  found  in  the  entire  in- 
vestigation of  factories  and  laundries.  This  same  establish- 
ment was  immaculately  clean,  had  two  clean  toilets,  well  screened 
off  from  the  work  room,  an  excellent,  orderly  dressing  room, 
well  provided  with  books,  six  wash  bowls  and  six  linen  towels 
which  are  changed  every  day,  and  a  neatly  arranged  gas  plate 
for  making  tea  and  coffee.  The  dressing  room  had  been  a  read- 
ing room  formerly  but  with  increase  of  workers  had  to  be  used 
for  the  other  purpose.  The  forelady  said,  however,  that  a  new 
reading  room  would  be  the  next  improvement. 

Contrasted  with  this  was  a  second  plant  where  the  depart- 
ments were  scattered  over  two  large  floor  spaces,  with  the  light 
coming  from  the  front  of  the  building  only.  In  the  rear,  a  large 
air-tight  stove  without  any  fire  served  apparently  to  heat  the 
place.  It  seemed  too  far  from  the  power  machines  to  do  the 
workers  any  good  even  if  the  fire  were  burning.  A  good  sized 
dressing  room  was  in  the  rear  also,  but  the  place  was  not  tidy; 
there   were   two   toilets;   one   needed   repair   badly.      A   freight 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  39 

elevator  did  some  service  as  a  passenger  lift.  Around  this  a 
stairway  wound  from  the  first  to  the  second  floor,  which  would 
be  a  greater  menace  than  it  would  be  assistance,  in  case  of  fire. 
The  stair  passage  was  so  narrow  that  not  more  than  one 
person  could  thread  it  at  a  time  and  the  steps  were  so  narrow 
that  one  unaccustomed  to  them,  walked  cautiously. 

Candy  factories  in  Washington  offer  extremes  of  convenience 
and  comfort.  Cracker  and  cooky  packers  have  the  hardest  work 
of  women  employes  for  the  reason  that  their  work  is  all  done 
standing  and  in  close  connection  with  the  ovens.  Several  plants 
had  the  cracker  packing  departments  on  the  floor  above 
the  ovens  with  good  air  space  surrounding  the  workers.  The 
trolley  conveying  the  crackers  from  the  ovens  to  the  girls  leaves 
an  open  space  in  the  floor  which  serves  as  an  escape  for  much 
of  the  heat  from  the  ovens  below.  Girls  at  the  farther  end  of 
the  trolley  feel  very  little  of  the  hot  waves,  but  those  near 
it  have  much  to  endure,  especially  in  the  summer  time.  Some 
plants  have  a  system  of  changing  the  girls'  positions,  not  to 
avoid  the  heat,  but  to  give  all  an  equal  chance  at  packing. 
Others  have  a  system  of  promotion  whereby  the  latest  comer 
stands  at  the  foot  of  the  conveyor  farthest  from  the  heat ;  this 
gives  the  older  employe  the  best  chance  to  get  the  crackers  as 
the  full  trays  come  up  but  keeps  her  always  near  the  heat.  The 
girl  at  the  foot  has  a  promotion  toward  more  crackers,  hence 
more  wages  and  also  more  heat  as  the  girls  above  leave  the  plant. 
One  plant,  installed  in  an  old  building  has  its  packing  depart- 
ment on  the  first  floor,  and  in  the  same,  close  room  with  the 
ovens.  Windows  on  one  side  were  very  close  to  the  adjoining 
building.  The  remaining  two  sides  were  solid  wall.  There 
was  no  chance  at  all  for  a  draft  unless  the  narrow  door  leading 
into  an  outer  hall  behind  the  offices,  were  left  open.  Even  then, 
the  draw  would  be  so  indirect  that  but  little  relief  could  come 
from  it.  Exhaust  shields  and  fans  extended  beyond  the  ovens, 
so  that  gases  and  heat  could  be  carried  off,  but  nevertheless  the 
room  was  uncomfortably  warm.  The  upper  floors  had  good 
light  at  the  front  and  one  side  of  the  building;  but  the  whole 


40  State  of  Washington 


effect  was  gloomy.  The  manager  appeared  to  be  doing  his 
best  to  keep  the  place  comfortable  and  clean.  He  said  that 
numberless  efforts  had  been  made  to  whitewash  or  paint  the 
walls  and  ceiljng  white  but  that  the  grease  soaked  beams  would 
not  hold  a  coating  of  any  kind.  The  building  is  an  old  one,  had 
been  designed  for  a  store,  and  never  should  have  been  used  for 
its  present  purpose.  Separate  toilets  are  maintained  for 
women  on  alternate  floors. 

Candy  factories  are  hard  to  keep  clean  but  one  may  expect 
that  they  will  not  be  models  of  neatness  when  the  girls  are  re- 
quired to  do  the  scrubbing  toward  the  end  of  a  day's  work.  In 
most  establishments  this  duty  falls  to  the  men  who  are  more 
able  to  handle  the  heavy  brooms  and  mojps  and  to  apply  needed 
masculine  energy  to  the  sugar  covered  floors.  It  appears,  how- 
ever, that  where  a  large  number  of  men  are  not  employed,  the 
saving  in  janitor  cost  through  the  labor  of  the  girls  compen- 
sates for  a  reputation  of  uncleanliness. 

Some  factories  also  continue  to  furnish  only  one  toilet  for 
both  sexes.  In  one  plant,  where  women  are  working  in  the 
basement,  the  toilet  opens  into  the  work  room.  Neither  is 
there  any  heat  here.  The  one  toilet  on  the  floor  above  was 
dirty.  A  little  wood  stove  is  supposed  to  do  the  work  of  a 
heating  plant.  On  the  day  the  visit  was  made  in  midwinter, 
the  visitor  could  place  her  hand  flat  on  it  without  injury.  Coats 
and  hats  were  piled  in  heaps  on  a  window  sill  in  lieu  of  other 
arrangement.  It  is  worth  remarking  that  employers  who  con- 
duct their  business  with  the  poorest  of  equipment,  in  uncleanly 
fashion  and  with  least  consideration  for  their  employes  are 
the  ones  who  protest  loudest  against  minimum  wages,  short 
hours  or  any  other  sort  of  regulation  which  is  forced  upon  the 
well  intentioned  by  just  such  types  of  men  as  they  are.  One 
plant  visited  was  undergoing  many  improvements,  such  as  new 
equipment  in  the  way  of  tin  covered  tables  (more  easily  cleaned 
than  wooden  ones),  fresh  white  paint  throughout  on  shelves  and 
walls,  exhaust  shields  and  pipes  over  cooking  kettles,  etc.  Here, 
too,   were  found  large  dressing   rooms   for   employes   and   cold 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  41 


storage  pipes  running  through  the  chocolate  dipping  room 
for  summer  use.  In  one  other  factory  one  girl  reported  that 
last  summer  she  dipped  chocolates  at  night  from  10  P.  M.  to 
6:30  A.  M.  Another  plant  furnishes  uniform  caps  and  aprons 
for  all  of  its  employes.  A  clean  garment  is  given  out  every 
week.     The  effect  is  most  attractive. 

As  the  smell  of  sugar  in  candy  factories  is  sickening  to 
many  employes  until  they  become  accustomed  to  it,  so  in  a 
different  way  is  the  odor  of  glue  in  paper  box  factories  nauseat- 
ing. Improvements  are  being  made  constantly,  both  in  equip- 
ment and  materials,  which  it  is  hoped  will  eventually  lessen  the 
disagreeable  features.  One  plant  with  its  women  workers  con- 
fined to  one  large  floor  had  windows  on  two  sides  of  the  build- 
ing, one  side  of  which  faced  the  bay.  Here,  by  means  of  a  grate 
like  arrangement,  the  glue  pots  were  raised  so  that  the  worker's 
face  was  not  as  directly  over  the  pot  as  when  the  latter  is  sunk 
into  the  work  table.  The  work  tables  were  arranged  around 
the  outside  walls  of  the  room  where  the  girls  obtained  full 
benefit  of  the  light  and  air.  The  toilet  arrangements  were  good 
and  located  in  an  inconspicuous  corner  of  the  room. 

A  second  establishment  visited  has  the  advantage  of  being 
a  new  building  built  for  factory  purposes.  Such  being  the  case, 
one  expects  to  find  good  space  arrangement,  light  and  air. 
One  cannot  commend,  however,  the  placing  of  the  toilet  in  the 
center  of  the  wall  in  full  view  of  an  entire  work  room.  During; 
a  quiet  season,  when  only  a  few  girls  are  employed,  conditions 
are  not  so  bad.  During  the  busy  season  when  both  sexes  work 
on  one  floor,  some  girls  would  run  the  risk  of  injuring  their 
health  rather  than  make  use  of  such  facilities.  This  is  true 
not  only  of  those  in  this  industry  but  of  many  others  thrust 
through  thoughtlessness  into  a  similar  condition. 

In  every  establishment  visited,  special  care  was  taken  to  note 
how  many  and  what  kind  of  stools  were  provided.  In  some 
cases  where  stools  could  very  rarely  be  used  at  work,  none  at  all 
were  in  sight.  In  others  one.  stood  near  each  girl.  If  the  in- 
dustry was  such  that  a  number  of  empty  boxes  was  on  hand,  no 


12  State  of  Washington 


stools  at  all  were  provided.  In  laundries,  the  folders  at  the 
mangles  are  the  only  employes,  besides  seamstresses,  who  sit 
at  their  work.  In  summing  up  conditions  of  labor  it  is  but  fair 
to  say  that  as  all  of  the  factories  and  laundries  in  the  state  were 
not  visited,  pictures  presented  above  may  have  omitted  some  of 
the  fairest  working  conditions,  but  also  they  may  have  missed 
some  of  the  worst.  The  investigator  "heard"  of  other  unfavor- 
able conditions  but  described  only  those  which  she  had  had  an 
opportunity  to  see.  Of  these,  the  most  crying  needs  are  for 
separate  toilets,  adequate  dressing  and  lunch  rooms,  decent 
drinking  water  facilities,  warm  work  rooms,  stools  wherever 
possible  with  permission  to  use  them,  and  janitor  service  when 
the  establishment  lacks  male  employes  to  do  this  heavy  work. 

MERCANTL1E  STORES. 

The  general  public  which  can  see  nearly  every  nook  and 
corner  of  a  department  store  may  think  that  is  has  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  conditions  of  labor  of  the  saleswomen.  A 
number  of  conditions  which  the  shopping  population  does  see, 
however,  probably  never  arouse  a  second  thought  as  to  whether 
that  particular  state  of  affairs  makes  life  easier  or  more  difficult 
for  the  smiling  young  lady  behind  the  counter. 

The  reputed  colder  climate  in  winter  of  the  eastern  section 
of  the  state  brings  forth  a  provision  which  is  omitted  in  the  mild, 
damper,  but  equally  uncomfortable  western  section.  This  is 
the  provision  of  a  vestibule  permanent,  or  temporary  through 
storm  doors,  and  of  heat  in  the  vestibule.  Shoppers  in  a  store 
all  afternoon  become  heated  and  tired  and  on  leaving  the  store, 
exclaim  over  the  lovely  fresh  air  as  it  comes  rushing  in 
through  the  swinging  doors,  wholly  unmindful  meanwhile  of  the 
clerks  who  receive  the  full  force  of  the  cold  blast  all  day  long. 
Some  of  the  stores  in  the  western  section  of  the  state  have  vesti- 
bules, but  a  number  of  others  have  not. 

Arrangement  of  counters  has  much  to  do  toward  increasing 
or  lightening  the  work  of  the  clerk.  Time  did  not  permit  inves- 
tigation to  learn  how  many  stores  had  spaces  behind  counters 
uncomfortablv  narrow,  or  stock  shelves  so  narrow  that  bolts  pro- 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  43 


jected  in  the  way  of  the  clerk,  nor  of  systems  of  cashiering  and 
wrapping  which  expedited  sales  to  the  benefit  of  both  customer 
and  clerk.  Nor  could  time  be  given  to  an  inquiry  into  the  differ- 
ent systems  of  ventilation  to  determine  how  often  the  air  in  base- 
ments, usually  the  most  poorly  ventilated  section,  was  changed, 
nor  to  what  extent  balconies  infringed  on  the  air  space  of  the 
first  floor. 

Two  conditions  easily  noted  were  taken  into  account.  One 
was  the  arrangement  of  aisle  counters  generally  used  for 
bargains,  the  other  the  provision  of  stools.  Many  stores  have 
simply  the  straight  counter  for  the  display  of  special  attrac- 
tions. If  a  big  sale  is  on,  the  clerks  have  not  only  the  work  of 
serving  the  extra  crowd  of  shoppers,  each  eager  to  be  first  and 
get  the  best  bargain,  but  in  addition  she  must  stand  the  annoy- 
ance of  being  pushed,  shoved  and  knocked  this  way  and  that 
because  the  only  way  in  which  she  can  tend  to  her  counter  is  to 
stand  at  it  in  the  thick  of  the  crowd.  Clerks  despise  the  straight 
aisle  counters  and  once  removed  from  them  will  do  anything 
even  to  giving  up  their  positions  rather  than  go  back  to  them. 
An  arrangement  which  serves  equally  well  for  display,  gives 
greater  comfort  to  the  saleswomen  and  should  permit  her  to 
make  sales  faster,  is  the  hollow  square  counter,  from  the  hollow 
of  which  she  can  survey  all  buyers  by  a  turn  of  her  head. 
Stores  in  Washington  have  both  types  with  the  straight  aisle 
counter  in  use  in  the  majority  of  cases. 

In  one  store  only  was  the  visitor  unable  to  find  stools  behind 
the  counters.  But  in  all  of  the  others  once  only  did  she  see 
one  clerk  making  use  of  a  stool  when  she  was  not  busy.  In  the 
others  she  saw  clerks  not  busy  but  standing  at  attention.  Com- 
pliance with  the  letter  of  the  law  has  not  meant  compliance 
with  the  spirit  always ;  some  of  the  employes  report  that  though 
the  stools  are  there,  they  would  not  risk  the  displeasure  of  their 
superiors  and  the  loss  of  their  positions  by  sitting  down  during 
dull  business  hours. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  well  meaning  managers  do  not  always 
realize   fully   the   character   of   some  of  the  men   employed   as 


44  State  of  Washington 

floormen  or  heads  of  departments.  A  commendable  rule  which 
exists  in  all  stores  is  that  all  clerks  must  ask  permission  when 
they  wish  to  leave  the  floor.  The  hardship  comes  when  a  coarse 
man  who  is  in  charge  of  a  department  must  be  asked  for  all 
permissions.  Reliable  accounts  of  veiled  insults  are  heard  from 
time  to  time  but  during  this  investigation  one  such  story  well 
authenticated  came  to  the  investigator's  ears  which  surpasses 
any  other  for  plain  brutality  and  indecency  of  feeling.  It  would 
be  printed  here  if  it  were  not  too  indelicate.  It  will  be  a  happy 
change  when  the  responsibility  for  a  clerk's  presence  in  a  depart- 
ment can  be  placed  on  another  woman  clerk's  shoulders,  but 
meanwhile  it  is  a  shame  that  clean  minded,  refined  girls  should  be 
subjected  to  such  humiliations. 

WELFARE  WORK. 

An  activity  becoming  more  prominent  year  by  year  in 
mercantile  stores  is  that  known  as  welfare  work.  It  usually 
covers  all  efforts,  over  and  above  the  absolutely  necessary  pro- 
visions for  the  conduct  of  its  business,  which  the  firm  makes 
for  the  promotion  of  the  comfort  of  its  women  employes.  Wel- 
fare work  frequently  means  that  a  woman  secretary  is  employed 
who  devotes  all  of  her  time  to  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
women  employes,  their  home  surroundings  and  personal  strug- 
gles, their  characters,  good  and  poor  points  as  saleswomen, 
and  who  is  prepared  to  advise  or  assist  them  in  any  way  that 
may  be  required.  An  employes'  lunch  room  and  rest  room  or 
hospital  for  emergency  illness  is  considered  part  of  the  welfare 
work  and  of  these,  the  secretary  has  charge. 

Occasionally     the  duty  of  instructing  the  new  clerks  in  the 

rules  of  the  house  and  of  reminding  the  older  ones  falls  to  her 

lot. 

All  of  the  large  department  stores  employ  a  matron  for  the 

women's  lunch  and  rest  room.  In  three  stores  a  welfare  secre- 
tary also  is  employed.  A  space  to  eat  lunch  is  provided  in 
every  instance  but  in  addition  to  this  some  stores  furnish  warm 
drinks  free  of  cost  or  at  reduced  rates  and  others  maintain  a 
cafeteria  for  the  use  of  the  women  employes  only. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  4<5 

VACATION  WITH   PAY  AND  NIGHT  WORK. 

One  week's  vacation  with  pay  is  given  in  one  instance  after 
six  months'  service  and  two  weeks  vacation  after  one  year's  serv- 
ice. This  arrangement  is  the  most  generous  one  known.  Other 
stores  give  no  vacations  at  all  except  at  the  employes'  expense ; 
others,  one  week  after  one  year's  and  still  others  one  week  after 
two  years'  service.  Two  stores  allow  one  week's  wages  for  ill- 
ness during  the  year.  This  would  be  paid  in  a  single  sum  if  the 
employe  were  ill  a  week  at  a  time.  It  is  made  up  in  another  way 
if  necessary  by  not  docking  an  employe  for  a  day's  absence  at 
different  times  on  account  of  ill  health.  A  strong  movement  is 
on  foot  in  the  three  largest  cities  to  close  all  of  the  department 
stores  Saturday  evenings  after  6  P.  M.  by  voluntary  agree- 
ment. Seattle  is  ahead  of  both  Tacoma  and  Spokane  in  this 
respect.  In  that  city  two  stores  have  been  closed  at  6  P.  M. 
for  a  number  of  years,  Christmas  holidays  not  excepted.  Two 
others  have  followed  suit  since  the  first  of  the  year.  In  Spokane 
several  stores  have  agreed  to  close  Saturday  evening  if  all  will. 
To  date  no  concerted  action  has  been  taken.  All  5,  10  and 
15  cent  stores  are  open  Saturday  evenings.  In  the  small  towns 
closing  Saturday  evenings  before  ten  o'clock  is  practically 
unheard  of. 

The  almost  universal  requirement  of  a  black  waist  in  winter 
and  black  or  white  in  summer  with  a  dark  skirt  at  all  times  is 
to  be  commended  for  several  reasons.  It  gives  the  employes  a 
standard  to  follow,  it  assists  them  to  be  economical  in  cost  in 
dress  and  to  save  on  laundry.  It  diverts  the  mind  of  the  clerk 
from  the  question  of  dress  at  the  same  time  that  it  assures  her 
a  neat  and  attractive  appearance. 

5,  10  AND  15  CENT  STORES. 

The  chief  condition  calling  for  remark  here  is  the  miserable 
sanitary  accommodations  provided  for  employes  in  some  of  the 
5,  10  and  15  cent  stores.  Patrons  are  advisedlv  warned  to 
"Keep  Out."  Could  they  see  the  location  and  condition  of 
toilets,  we  think  that  even  the  most  indifferent  would  protest. 


46  State  of  Washington 

Toilets  in  stores  visited  were  in  the  basement,  dark  and  chilly ; 
one  small  corner  had  been  partitioned  off  with  ceiling  board 
in  one  instance  to  form  a  dressing  room  and  toilet.  In  an- 
other instance  just  the  toilet  and  no  dressing  room  was  at  the 
foot  of  the  two-flight  staircase.  Whitewashed  walls  relieved  the 
gloom  slightly  but  gave  no  suggestion  of  regard  for  employes 
comfort.  The  outside  surroundings  were  not  even  clean.  Not 
much  respect  or  loyalty  can  be  engendered  in  the  hearts  of  em- 
ployes when  they  see  their  firm  showing  such  utter  indifference 
to  their  welfare  as  does  this  case.  In  no  instance  either  was  more 
than  one  toilet  for  the  entire  force  of  girls  seen.  One  5,  10  and 
15  cent  store  in  the  state  is  an  exception  to  this  description,  but 
this  was  an  independent  store,  and  not  one  of  a  chain  of  stores. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  47 


Section   IV. 
COST  AND  STANDARDS  OF  LIVING. 

In  discussing  the  cost  and  the  standards  of  living  several 
facts  must  be  borne  in  mind.  One  is  that  standards  of  living 
vary  with  climate,  nationality  and  customs  peculiar  to  localities, 
and  also  with  individual  tastes  and  dispositions.  The  standards 
of  living  will  vary  directly  as  do  the  wages.  Despite  the  variety 
in  the  standards  of  living  of  persons  in  one  locality  there  are 
certain  requirements  which  can  be  described,  without  which  we 
can  safely  assert  that  a  woman  is  not  maintaining  herself  in 
decent  and  healthful  subsistence.  These  requirements  are  three 
full  meals  a  day,  comfortable  and  respectable  lodging,  clean 
and  sufficient  clothing,  some  provision  for  recreation  and  amuse- 
ment, and  a  little  surplus  to  put  aside  against  future  needs. 
For  all  of  these  requirements  there  is  a  minimum  cost.  For. 
example,  cotton  handkerchiefs  ordinarily  cost  five  cents  each. 
Once  or  twice  a  year  they  may  be  on  sale  at  six  or  eight  for 
a  quarter,  but  the  average  girl  employed  all  day  rarely  has  time 
to  follow  the  sales,  so  five  cents  is  a  safe  minimum  for  this  article 
of  clothing.  Yet  by  an  unwritten  rule,  linen  is  a  mark  of  refine- 
ment, and  we  can  scarcely  call  ten  cents  for  a  handkerchief  an 
extravagant  outlay  on  the  part  of  a  self-supporting  woman. 
To  define  a  "square"  meal  may  be  more  difficult  than  to  fix  the 
cost  of  clothes  ;  but  one  can  say  what  diet  is  not  a  full  meal ; 
moreover  girls  who  have  a  slice  of  bread  and  a  cup  of  tea  for 
rations  twice  a  day  with  a  dinner  that  must  be  confined  to  twenty 
cents  are  not  maintaining  themselves  "in  health." 

Out  of  the  blanks  forwarded  by  women  employes,  only  those 
were  tabulated  which  showed  care  and  common  sense  in  the 
estimates.  This  selection  eliminated  those  which  exceeded  $700 
a  year  and  which  fell  below  $300  a  year.  In  order  that  the 
claim  might  not  be  made  that  these  were  unreliable  because  sub- 
mitted from  a  distance  and  without  investigation  of  the  sender, 
27    self-supporting  women   employed   in   mercantile  work   were 


48  State  of  Washington 

visited  personally  and  the  object  of  filling  the  blanks  out  ex- 
plained to  them.  The  average  of  these  27  is  presented  in  Table 
XXVIII  as  picturing  the  situation  accurately. 

BOARD    AND    ROOM. 

Three  methods  were  followed  in  determining  the  cost  of 
room  and  board.  (1)  From  answers  to  advertisements  inserted 
in  daily  papers  asking  for  room  and  board  for  a  self  supporting 
woman.  (2)  From  estimates  of  women  wage  earners.  (3)  By 
personal  inspection  of  rooms,  housekeeping  and  "single"  and  of 
homes  offering  room  and  board. 

Table   XXI. 

ROOM    AND    BOARD    OFFERED    IN    RESPONSE    TO    ADVERTISERS 
BY  PERSONS  IN  VARIOUS  CITIES  IN   WASHINGTON. 

No.         Average  Au- 
Offered.      nual  Cost. 

Within  walking  distance. .  .      40  $273.87 

Outside  walking  distance..      46  267.78 


Totals 86  $270.82 

Table  XXI  gives  the  cost  of  room  and  board  as  offered  in 
86  answers  to  advertisements.  40  were  within  walking  distance, 
46  outside  of  walking  distance.  The  average  annual  cost  of 
those  within  walking  distance  was  $273.87  or  $22.82  a  month. 
Outside  of  walking  distance  we  expect  to  find  accommodations 
somewhat  cheaper  due  to  the  added  cost  of  carfare.  We  find 
the  46  averaging  $267.78  a  year  or  $22.18  a  month,  a  difference 
of  64  cents  a  month,  but  not  great  enough  to  supply  the  carfare. 
This  gives  no  support  to  the  theory  that  if  a  girl  will  go  far 
enough  out  she  can  find  a  comfortable,  home-like  room  at  a 
reduced  rate  which  will  compensate  her  for  the  added  carfare 
cost.  Sometimes  this  is  true.  While  comfortable,  clean,  at- 
tractive rooms  within  walking  distance  are  expensive,  equally 
comfortable  rooms  are  likewise  expensive  outside  of  walking 
distance.  One  pays  for  accommodations  wherever  one  finds 
them.  The  householder  in  the  suburbs  realizes  the  advantages 
of  her  rooms  over  the  city  and  often  charges  accordingly.  Cheap 
rooms   were  seen   within    ten   minutes"   walking;   distance   of   the 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  49 


heart  of  the  business  district  in  large  cities  but  they  were  such 
rooms  as  would  drive  a  girl  to  the  sidewalk  and  the  stars,  the 
chance  acquaintance  and  the  cheap  moving  picture  show. 

Cheap  rooms  in  the  suburbs  were  seen  also,  but  with  them 
often  goes  the  request  for  companionship,  assistance  with  work 
or  some  similar  service  which  should  be  added  to  the  cost.  An 
item  which  is  sometimes  lost  sight  of  in  determining  cost  of  room 
is  that  of  heat.  A  room  is  offered  with  many  attractions :  sun- 
light, cleanliness,  attractive  furnishings,  well  kept  locality,  low 
rent ;  but  when  the  visitor  has  finished  sounding  the  praises  of 
the  offer  she  discovers  that  the  room  is  heated  by  gas  with  a 
quarter  meter  or  an  air  tight  stove  will  be  put  up — if  she  needs 
it.  She  must  furnish  her  wood,  or  if  a  coal  oil  stove  is  installed, 
she  must  furnish  the  oil  (and  if  the  stove  is  an  old  one,  must  bear 
with  the  fumes). 

An  example  from  the  investigator's  experiences  will  illus- 
trate: One  landlord  before  showing  any  rooms  scrutinized  the 
visitor  closely,  inquired  after  her  trade  and  very  plainly  asked 
her  morals.  On  being  reassured  that  she  could  furnish  references 
and  desired  no  less  than  he  to  live  in  a  respectable  house  he 
showed  her  his  rooms.  All  were  clean  but  bare  and  unattractive. 
One  at  $1.75  a  week  had  a  gas  stove  in  it  but  the  tenant  must 
furnish  her  own  gas.  One  at  $1.50  a  week  had  no  heat  in  it. 
To  the  visitor's  suggestion  that  this  might  be  a  little  chilly, 
the  respectable  housekeeper  replied  that  one  did  not  need  heat 
especially  if  one  were  in  her  room  only  night  and  morning.  The 
investigator  urged  that  if  one  were  to  sit  in  her  room  evenings, 
especially  during  the  damp,  rainy  weather,  one  would  find  it 
rather  chilly.  The  landlord  said,  "  Perhaps  so,  but  then  most 
people  are  out  in  the  evenings."  He  was  typical  of  some  others, 
admirable  for  their  morals  but  ready  to  censure  a  girl  if  she 
were  not  willing  to  freeze  to  keep  respectable. 

None  of  the  cheap  rooms  visited  were  picked  out  with  malice 
prepense.  The  visitor  was  delighted  to  find  well  heated,  light 
rooms  in  private  homes  as  well  as  the  cheap,  dingy  ones,  but 
the  conclusion  was  forced  upon  her  that  to  obtain  decent,  clean 


50  State  of  Washington 

rooms  in  the  larger  cities,  $10.00  a  month  at  the  very  least  is 
required;  to  obtain  comfortable,  attractive  ones  $12.00  and  more 
a  month  is  necessary. 

It  has  been  said  that  a  girl  may  save  if  she  rents  a  house- 
keeping room  at  a  slightly  higher  cost  but  cooks  her  own  meals, 
the  saving  to  be  made  on  the  grocery  bill.  This  suggestion 
has  been  adopted  by  many  girls  at  the  expense  of  their  physical 
energy.  For  with  a  housekeeping  room  a  girl  may  eat  just 
enough  "to  keep  her  going"  and  no  one  be  the  wiser,  this  because 
she  cannot  afford  two  full  meals  at  home  and  a  lunch  away 
every  day.  Or  another  reason  which  enables  her  to  save  is  that 
at  the  end  of  the  day  she  may  find  herself  too  tired  to  cook  her 
own  meals.  As  a  consequence  she  nibbles  at  cold  food  until 
the  feeling  of  hunger  is  satisfied;  then  she  goes  out  for  some 
amusement  or  to  her  sleep  half  fed.  During  the  investigation 
two  girls  were  found  who  had  not  had  a  warm  meal  for  a  week. 

Another  solution  of  the  room  rent  question  adopted  by  many 
girls  is  that  of  rooming  together.  This  is  a  plan  which  cannot 
be  universally  condemned.  Like  many  another  plan,  it  can  be 
worked  out  under  pleasant,  healthful  conditions,  but  frequently 
it  means  that  to  save  expenses  a  room  with  a  bed  large  enough 
for  one  girl  will  be  adapted  to  two  or  even  three.  Disorder  of 
room,  of  sleep  and  distemper  of  mind  and  body  result.  Such  a 
condition  was  found  where  one  room  with  one  bed  was  oc- 
cupied by  four  girls,  two  of  whom  took  turns  sleeping  on  the 
floor  at  night  while  the  other  two  occupied  the  bed. 

During  the  investigation  statistics  were  collected  to  see 
whether  the  low  wages  bore  any  relation  to  the  number  of  room- 
rates.  The  returns  showed  very  little.  If  there  was  a  difference 
it  tended  to  show  that  the  more  poorly  paid  girls  took  in  room- 
mates more  frequently  but  the  better  paid  girl  roomed  with 
another  in  so  many  instances  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to 
draw  any  useful  inference. 

A  fact  worth  noting  is  that  standards  of  decent  subsistence 
vary  with  the  occupation.     We  find  that  mercantile  store  and 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


51 


office  employes  pay  more  per  year  than  do  factory  and  laundry 

employes. 

Table  XXII. 

AVERAGE    AMOUNT   SPENT    ANNUALLY    ON    ROOM    AND    BOARD 

BY  341    WAGE    EARNING   WOMEN    IN   WASHINGTON    LIVING 

ADRIFT   AND   CLASSIFIED   BY    INDUSTRIES. 


Industry 


Mercantile 
Factory  .  . 
Laundry   . 

Employers 


Number 
Report- 
ing on 
Room 


162 

49 

130 


138 


Annual 

Room 

Rent 


$119.60 
113.36 
109.20 

$86.77 


Number 
Report- 
ing on 
Board 


105 
35 
89 


138 


Annual 
Cost  of 
Board 


$192.40 
169.00 
171.60 

$191.61 


Total 


$312.00 
282.36 
280.80 

$278.38 


Table  XXII  gives  the  average  annual  cost  of  room  and 
board  for  wage  earning  women  adrift  in  Washington.  162  mer- 
cantile employes  average  $119.60  a  year  for  room  rent.  Board 
costs  105,  $192.40  a  year.  The  total  of  the  average  for  a  year 
is  $312.00. 

Factory  employes  live  in  cheaper  rooms  than  the  department 
store  girls — 49  of  the  former  average  $113.36  a  year  for  room 
and  35  average  $169.00  for  board.  $14.09  is  the  cost  of  board 
per  month  or  46  cents  per  day,  an  average  of  15  cents  for  each 
meal.  If  the  woman  takes  her  meals  in  a  restaurant  this  means 
scanty  provision.  If  she  were  so  placed  that  she  could  plan  her 
own  meals,  buy  quantities  of  staple  foods  ahead  and  cook  her  own 
meals,  she  might  be  able  to  exist  on  this  allowance.  In  any  case 
it  scarcely  furnishes  sufficient  nourishment  on  which  to  perform 
a  hard  day's  work. 

Laundry  employes  require  less  than  factor}^  employes  for 
room,  $109.20  a  year,  but  slightly  more  a  year  for  board, 
$171.60.  The  total  $280.80  falls  a  little  below  the  total  of  the 
factory  employes  which  is  $282.36.  The  annual  cost  of  room 
and  board  as  estimated  by  138  employers  averaged  $278.38. 

Although  not  so  stated,  these  estimates  probablv  cover  the 
cost    of  two  meals  only  as  but  few  private  boarding  houses  serve 


52  State  of  Washington 


the  noonday  lunch.  If  we  allow  15  cents  a  working  day  for 
lunch  the  cost  of  room  and  board  is  raised  $3.90  a  month  and 
$45.00  a  year. 

ROOMS  INVESTIGATED. 

(Answers  were  received  to  advertisements  but  only  those  which  were 
investigated  are  described  here.) 

SEATTLE. 

1.  Ten  minutes  walk  from  town,  2  rooms,  one  upstairs,  1 
down,  each  $2,25  a  week,  both  housekeeping;  old  house;  down- 
stairs room  dingy,  one  strip  of  carpet,  one  strip  of  matting, 
sanitary  couch ;  room  heated  by  coal  oil  stove ;  pay  for  own  oil 
for  heating  and  furnish  gas  for  cooking.  Room  upstairs  heated 
by  tiny  coal  stove;  three-quarter  bed,  supposed  to  be  rented 
for  two.  With  two  in  room  would  cost  $2.50  a  week.  The  walls 
were  cracked.  .  The  furniture  was  old,  the  room  ragged  in  as- 
pect, stove  rusty ;  furnish  own  coal.  Upstairs  water  for  cook- 
ing, etc.,  obtained  from  faucet  in  hall  but  downstairs  from  bath 
tub  faucet. 

2.  Walking  distance,  no  bath ;  visitor  was  informed  that 
toilet  was  in  yard  but  was  not  given  opportunity  to  see  it ; 
housekeeping  rooms  $1.75,  $2  a  week  and  up. 

3.  Attractive  flat  exteriorly ;  1  front  room  upstairs,  small 
and  dirty ;  bath  room  and  toilet  formed  part  of  hallway  opening 
between  kitchen  and  bed  room ;  bath  screened  merely  by  por- 
tiere which  did  not  extend  clear  across  ;  woman  not  particular 
about  tenants  ;  room  $2.50  a  week,  heated  by  gas,  electric  lights  ; 
place  generally  of  untidy  appearance. 

4.  Room  in  same  neighborhood  as  1,  2  and  3;  steam 
heated,  upstairs  very  clean,  clean  bath,  electric  lights,  no  clothes 
closet  in  room,  $3.50  a  week  ;  1  front  room  same  house,  well- 
kept  and  attractive  room.  At  time  of  visit  about  to  be  vacated 
by  young  man;  atmosphere  of  room  reeking  with  tobacco; 
$3.00  a  week. 

5.  One  room,  upstairs,  front,  $1.50  per  week;  no  heat, 
stove  in  room;  must  furnish  own  fuel;  out  quite  a  distance. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  53 

6.  One  room  in  frame  house,  $10  per  month;  no  board; 
heat,  stove  in  room ;  will  allow  one  bath  a  week ;  landlady  sick ; 
within  walking  distance. 

7.  One  room,  $1.50  per  week;  no  heat;  beyond  walking  dis- 
tance. 

8.  Two  rooms,  $2.50  and  $4.00  per  week ;  no  board ;  heated 
by  furnace ;  bath ;  larger  room  big  enough  for  two ;  within  walk- 
ing distance. 

9.  One  room,  modern  house,  $12.50  per  month;  would  give 
breakfast  at  25  cents  per  meal ;  beyond  walking  distance. 

10.  One  large  front  room,  $10  per  month;  double  windows, 
small  stove,  but  uncertain  whether  fuel  included ;  good  location, 
beyond  walking  distance. 

.  11.  One  room,  nice  home,  $10.00  per  month;  widow  and 
sister  living  alone ;  would  be  treated  as  one  of  family ;  on  three 
car  lines ;  30  minutes  walk  from  town. 

12.  One  room,  $10.00  per  month;  heated  from  stove  in  ad- 
joining room;  beyond  walking  distance,  15  minutes  car  ride 
from  business  center. 

BELLINGHAM— (Rooms  Only). 

13.  One  front  room  "very  cheap;"  $8.00  or  $9.00  per 
month  ;  use  of  parlor. 

14.  One  room,  has  always  rented  for  $15.00  per  month,  but 
will  take  $10.00  per  month  for  permanent  roomer ;  board  obtain- 
able next  door  at  $4.50  per  week  for  two  meals ;  wood  heater  in 
room;  bath;  10  minutes  walking  distance  from  business  center. 

15.  One  small  upstairs  room,  $3.00  per  week;  steam  heat, 
bath ;  use  of  piano ;  within  walking  distance. 

16.  Three  or  four  rooms,  $10.00  per  month  each;  room 
and  board,  $5.00  per  week;  same  rate  if  two  in  a  room;  steam 
heat,  bath;  use  of  piano,  parlor  and  laundry  facilities;  10  min- 
utes walking  distance  from  business  center. 

17.  One  room,  $10.00  per  month,  extra  charge  for  wood ; 
no  use  of  parlor  or  piano ;  20  minutes  walk  from  business  center. 

18.  One  room,  $10.00  per  month;  steam  heat;  may  use 
parlor  occasionally ;  5  minutes  walk  from  business  center. 


54  State  of  Washington 

19.  Three  rooms,  $2.00  per  week  each;  small,  no  heat; 
bath ;  use  of  parlor  and  piano ;  20  minutes  walk  from  business 
center. 

20.  Two  small  housekeeping  rooms,  upstairs,  $4.50  per 
week  for  both ;  small  heater  and  gas  stove ;  wood  and  gas  fur- 
nished ;  care  for  own  rooms  ;  no  bath  or  toilet ;  parlor  and  piano 
may  be  used  at  any  time ;  "homelike" ;  5  minutes  walk  from  busi- 
ness center. 

21.  Two  rooms,  $9.00  and  $8.00  per  month;  well  furnished 
and  convenient ;  gas,  bath ;  use  of  parlor,  no  piano ;  board  in 
next  block  at  $4.50  per  week. 

22.  One  room,  $10.00  per  month;  well  furnished;  furnace 
heat,  bath;  board  two  doors  away  at  $4.50  per  week  for  two 
meals ;  10  minutes  walk  from  business  center. 

23.  One  room,  $10.00  per  month  for  one,  $9.00  per  month 
each  for  two ;  furnace  heat ;  "use  of  bath  if  careful"  ;  "cannot 
use  parlor  or  piano"  ;  15  minutes  walk  from  business  center. 

24.  One  room,  $8.00  per  month;  with  two  meals,  $18.00 

per  month,  room  unheated ;  bath ;  use  of  living  room,  parlor, 

piano,  etc. ;  on  good  car  line,  35  minutes  walk  from  business 

center. 

SPOKANE. 

25.  $25.00  per  month ;  bath ;  beyond  walking  distance. 

26.  $6.50  per  week  ;  small  room ;  heat ;  bath ;  use  of  piano, 
etc. 

27.  Wants  someone  for  company;  $12.00  per  month; 
roomer  must  sleep  on  couch  when  husband  of  landlady  is  at 
home. 

28.  If  not  a  hearty  eater,  room  and  breakfast  for  $3.00 
per  week ;  will  allow  one  bath  per  week ;  room  poorly  furnished ; 
beyond  walking  distance. 

29.  "Lone  woman"  wishes  to  share  room  and  expenses. 

30.  Two  meals,  $20.00  per  month ;  walking  distance. 

BELLINGHAM— (Board   and    Room). 

31.  Two  meals,  $3.50  per  week;  room  poorly  furnished 
with  one  small  window;  kerosene  lamps;  no  bath  or  toilet;  room 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


55 


heated  by  chimney  from  down  stairs ;  no  carpet  in  room ;  rather 
noisy ;  no  piano ;  20  minutes  walk  from  business  center. 

32.  Two  meals,  $5.00  per  week;  with  two  sharing  room, 
$4.00  per  week  each;  stove  in  room,  bath;  use  of  parlor,  no 
piano ;  "very  dark  stairway  leading  to  room" ;  10  minutes  walk 
to  business  center. 

TACOMA— (All  Walking   Distance). 

1.  One  front  room  for  one  or  two,  $4.00  a  week,  first  floor, 
very  clean.  One  rear  room,  $2.50  per  week,  third  floor,  wall 
paper  torn.  Hot  water  heat  in  this  building.  No  toilet  on  the 
third  floor. 

2.  One  front  room,  $3.00  per  week,  pleasant  and  clean ; 
separate  toilets  for  men  and  women. 

3.  One  room,  $1.75  per  week,  heated  with  gas  stove.  Ten- 
ant furnishes  gas.  Room  arranged  for  housekeeping.  One 
rooni,  $1.50  per  week,  no  heat  of  any  kind  provided.  Landlady 
here  very  particular  about  the  character  of  tenants. 

1.  Two  housekeeping  rooms,  very  clean,  $2.75  per  week. 
Furnish  own  gas  for  cooking  and  wood  for  stove.  This  lady 
had  two  floors  and  arranged  it  so  that  all  of  the  men  tenants 
were  on  one  floor. 

5.  One  housekeeping  room,  $3.50  per  week,  ragged  carpet, 
dirty  walls,  toilet  clean. 

6.  One  single  room,  third  floor,  sanitary  couch,  one  gas 
plate,  cheap  furnishings,  $3.00  per  week. 


CLOTHING  AND   LAUNDRY. 

Two  conditions  exist  which  influence  the  cost  of  clothing;  of 
the  woman  in  the  business  world.  One  is  her  occupation,  the 
other  is  the  amount  she  has  on  hand  to  spend.  The  nature  of 
her  work  affects  the  cost  in  three  ways:  (a)  what  the  position 
demands  from  her  in  appearances,  (b)  the  measure  of  its  wear 
and  tear  on  her  clothes,  (c)  the  degree  of  physical  wear  that 
it  requires  of  the  worker. 


56  State  of  Washington 


(a)  Undoubtedly,  mercantile  or  any  other  work  which 
places  a  woman  before  the  public  requires  that  she  dress  pleas- 
ingly in  up-to-date  clothes.  In  manufacturing  and  laundering 
establishments,  where  workers  do  not  meet  the  patrons  at  all, 
hand-me-down,  soiled  and  worn  garments  are  possible. 

(b)  The  nature  of  the  work  will  affect  in  great  measure  the 
length  of  wear  which  a  woman  may  get  from  her  clothes.  Fac- 
tory employes  who  use  only  their  hands,  stenographers,  mani- 
curists, telephone  operators,  will  not  have  the  shoe  bill  of  laun- 
dry women  who  must  stand  and  work  at  foot  pedal  machines 
and  who,  in  some  cases,  stand  on  wet  floors ;  of  employes  in  manu- 
facturing plants  whose  shoes  are  exposed  to  spattering  dirt,  or 
of  clerks  and  errand  girls  in  department  stores,  who  are  on 
their  feet  all  day.  The  heat  and  perspiration  unavoidably  con- 
nected with  some  lines  of  work  hastens  the  end  of  the  usefulness 
of  clothes. 

(c)  The  physical  wear  of  an  employe's  work  lessens  her 
ability  to  plan  her  clothes,  make  them  herself  and  keep  them 
mended.  Several  employers  submitting  cost  of  living  blanks, 
remarked  that  girls  should  do  their  own  laundry  and  make  their 
own  clothes,  "since  they  have  the  eight  hour  day."  The  fact 
that  a  girl  -has  the  times  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  after  a 
hard  day's  confining  labor,  she  has  the  energy,  however  much 
she  desired  it,  to  start  a  second  eight  hours  of  domestic  work. 

The  final  cost  of  clothing  depends  a  great  deal  on  how  much 
a  girl  has  to  spend  for  an  article  at  the  time  she  needs  it.  So- 
called  "sample"  houses  and  installment-plan  clothing  houses 
probably  could  not  exist  at  all  if  self-supporting  women  were 
earning  a  living  wage.  For  lack  of  funds  the  girl  adrift  espe- 
cially buys  the  lowest  priced  article  she  can  find.  The  flimsy, 
lace-trimmed,  waists  for  which  they  are  so  often  condemned 
are  worn  less  from  choice  than  because  they  can  afford  noth- 
ing better.  Cheap  suits  are  another  expensive  necessity.  Pass- 
ing for  wool,  but  composed  largely  of  cotton,  they  have  not 
the  warmth  nor  the  weather-resisting  qualities  which  a  better 
suit  has.     Moreover,  they  are  poorly  made,  with  weak  thread, 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


57 


crooked  seams,  but  with  attractive  coat  linings,  which  are  soon 
worn  to  shreds.  What  is  true  of  suits  and  waists  is  true  of 
every  other  article  of  wear.  Underwear  for  30  cents  a  suit, 
stockings  for  10  cents  a  pair,  shoes  $1,  underskirt  59  cents, 
corset  79  cents,  suit  $6.98,  waist  69  cents,  hat  $1.50,  gloves 
25  cents,  handkerchiefs  5  cents — $11.25  for  the  outfit!  but  the 
woman  who  can  thus  dress  herself  and  feel  entirely  content  with 
her  condition  is  not  the  woman  whom  employers  care  to  place  on 
their  payroll.  Cheap  clothes  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word  are 
expensive,  but  for  lack  of  money  at  the  proper  time  this  is  an 
expense  which  many  a  wage-earner  must  unwillingly  assume. 
The  proposition  is  the  same  when  it  is  worked  out  with  a  credit- 
clothing  house.  The  cost  of  the  article  in  the  end  is  much  higher 
but  the  quality  no  better.  "It's  awful,"  one  girl  said,  who  was 
attempting  to  get  started  by  this  means.  "You  never  get 
through  paying  and  you  haven't  anything  when  you're  done." 

Table  XXIII. 

AVERAGE   ANNUAL   AMOUNT    ESTIMATED   AS   REASONABLE 

MINIMUM  EXPENDITURE  FOR  CLOTHING  BY  112  GIRLS 

CLASSIFIED    BY   OCCUPATION. 


Occupation 


Mercantile   

Factory    

Laundry   

Miscellaneous  Office,  Telephone,  etc 

Employers     


No. 


51 

15 
14 
32 


138 


Estimated  Annual 
Expenditure 


Clothing 


$139.16 
126.48 
144.08 
150.35 


$118.17 


Laundry 


$21.29 
19.14 
20.18 
16.62 

$21.60 


Table  XXIII  represents  the  annual  cost  of  clothing  for  self- 
supporting  women  in  Washington  as  estimated  by  112  girls, 
classified  by  occupation. 

Girls  in  mercantile  stores  have  the  advantage  over  women  in 
all  other  occupations.  They  usually  receive  a  discount  on  pur- 
chases made  in  the  store  and  some  firms  even  offer  discounts  to 


58  State  of  Washington 

clerks  coming  from  other  stores.  A  woman  in  a  store  is  given 
some  time  off  for  "house  shopping ;"  then  too,  they  are  on  the 
ground  when  reductions  in  price  are  made  and  are  able  to  buy 
good  things  at  a  saving;  whereas  women  in  other  occupations, 
with  their  limited  time  for  shopping,  are  not  able  to  be  on  hand 
for  bargains,  nor  are  they  always  able  to  investigate  shops  until 
they  have  found  where  they  may  make  their  purchases  at  the 
greatest  saving.  Even  with  these  advantages  we  find  the  mer- 
cantile store  girl's  clothing  averages  $139.16  a  year.  If  we 
allow  the  10  per  cent,  discount  this  sum  is  increased  to  $154.60 
a  year.  Factory  employes,  on  the  other  hand,  spend  on  an 
average  of  only  $126.48  a  year,  while  laundry  employes  total 
$144.08.  This  increase  above  the  factory  employes  may  be  due 
to  the  greater  wear  and  tear  on  the  laundry  employes'  clothing 
which  their  work  entails. 

The  average  annual  amount  allowed  by  one  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  employers,  who  reviewed  the  clothing  question,  was 
$118.17. 

Annual  laundry  costs  are  put  on  the  clothing  schedule  as 
the  former  item  must  always  be  taken  into  consideration  when 
buying  clothing.  Table  XXIII  shows  that  mercantile  store  em- 
ployes spend  on  an  average  of  $21.29  a  year.  This  exceeds  the 
cost  of  both  laundry  and  factory  employes  as  do  other  expenses 
of  saleswomen  which  have  a  direct  bearing  on  their  work. 

CHURCH  AND  ASSOCIATION   DUES. 

Table  No.  XXIV  shows  the  annual  amount  estimated  as 
necessary  for  church  and  association  dues  by  112  girls,  classified 
by  industry.  Mercantile  store  employes  expend  the  least,  fac- 
tory workers  the  most,  for  lodge,  clubs  and  church  affiliations. 
The  least  amount  is  slightly  less  than  $1  a  month  for  mercan- 
tile women,  the  largest  about  $1.35  a  month  for  factory  em- 
ployes. No  record  is  made  here  of  the  amounts  estimated  for  in- 
surance for  the  reason  that  too  few  were  given  to  be  of  much 
value.  Out  of  the  27  reports  from  mercantile  clerks  of  actual 
expenditures,    12   who    reported   on   insurance,   average   $12.79 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


59 


for  the  year.     The  highest  individual  estimates  here  for  the  year 
were  $27.50,  the  lowest,  $5.20. 

We  are  not  surprised  at  the  lack  of  records  on  insurance 
premiums.  The  vast  majority  of  self-supporting  girls  today 
find  it  too  difficult  to  make  ends  meet  to  be  able  to  put  away 
enough  for  a  decent  burial.  They  are  glad  to  be  able  to  keep  life 
together  and  to  this  end  spend  what  money  they  do  save  as  in- 
surance on  hospital  and  sick  benefit  associations.  And  our  fig- 
ures show  that  less  than  half  are  able  to  do  even  that. 


Table  XXIV. 

AVERAGE   ANNUAL   AMOUNT    ESTIMATED    AS    REASONABLE 

MINIMUM  EXPENDITURE  FOR  CHURCH  AND  ASSOCIATION 

DUES   BY   112   GIRLS   CLASSIFIED    BY    OCCUPATION. 

Occupation.  No.         Amount. 

Mercantile    51  $11.58 

Factory   15  16.40 

Laundry    14  13.69 

Miscellaneous   (Office  and 

Telephone,  etc.)    32  10.78 

Employers    138  $12.79 

One  employer  who  submitted  an  estimate  on  the  cost  of 
living,  gave  no  amount  for  church  dues,  stating  as  his  reason 
that  he  did  not  believe  "in  taking  church  money  from  a  working 
girl."  The  question  is  to  be  looked  at  not  so  much  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  "church  taking"  as  from  the  ability  of  the 
girl  to  give.  If  a  young  woman  is  a  church  member  she  takes 
pleasure  in  her  church  affiliation  and  receives  more  mental  and 
moral  courage  from  this  association  than  from  any  other 
she  forms.  Possibly  she  realizes  that  there  is  a  physical  rest 
also  to  be  had  from  relaxation  of  spirit.  Granting  that 
she  actually  feels  that  she  is  deriving  benefits  from  her  affilia- 
tion, she  should  not  be  denied  the  right  wTith  others  better  placed 
financially,  to  assist  in  the  support  of  the  organization.  It  is 
a  right  which  the  self-respecting  church-goer  does  not  wish 
taken  away  from  her  any  more  than  the  right  to  employ  her 
own  physician  rather  than  the  charity  doctor. 


60  State  of  W ashington 

MAGAZINES  AND  STATIONERY. 
Table  XXV. 

AVERAGE  ANNUAL  AMOUNT  ESTIMATED  AS  REASONABLE   MIN- 
IMUM   EXPENDITURE    FOR    MAGAZINES  AND   STATIONERY 
BY    112    GIRLS    CLASSIFIED    BY    OCCUPATION. 

Occupation.  No.         Amount. 

Mercantile    .  51  $7.48 

Factory   15  7.09 

Laundry    14  8.43 

Miscellaneous  (Office  and 

Telephone,  etc.)    32  7.78 

Employers    138  $8.41 

Table  XXV  gives  the  amount  estimated  by  112  girls  as  neces- 
sary for  newspapers  and  magazines,  stationery  and  postage. 
In  personal  and  written  correspondence  with  young  women  con- 
cerning all  of  the  items  in  the  "Cost  of  Living,"  the  same  state- 
ment was  frequently  made  concerning  this  and  other  items  (va- 
cation, recreation,  etc.)  "I  can't  afford  to  buy  magazines."  The 
amounts  spent  by  employes  differ  but  little- — nothing  over  70 
cents  a  month,  "60  cents  a  month  for  magazines" — and  sta- 
tionery. The  "and  stationery"  changes  the  complexion  of  the 
figures.  A  girl  away  from  home  writing  at  least  one  letter  a 
week  to  her  people  would  have  to  spend  about  25  cents  a  month. 
If  she  has  a  sister  or  a  friend  her  outlay  for  stamps  is  double. 
Few  of  the  better  magazines  are  less  than  15  cents  apiece.  It 
is  not  long  before  her  60  or  70  cents  for  magazines  and  station- 
ery is  exhausted  and  she  has  the  rest  of  an  empty  month  to  face. 
The  suggestion  is  made  "Let  her  use  the  public  library."  'Tis 
a  good  one  and  many  of  the  girls  do  so,  though  some  are  pre- 
vented by  distance  and  lack  of  carfare  from  going  to  the  li- 
brary. But  the  fact  to  be  absorbed  here  is  not,  that  because  a 
girl  has  not  one  dollar  or  two  a  month  for  magazines  and  sta- 
tionery she  must  have  it,  but  that  the  cramped  attitude  she 
must  hold  toward  every  innocent  desire,  the  constant  restric- 
tion she  must  place  not  only  on  her  craving  for  amusement  and 
relaxation,  on  her  ambition  to  read  and  grow,  but  even  on  her 
vital,  insistent  longing  for  sufficient  food,  a  clean  room  to  sleep 
in    and   warm    attractive    clothes    to    wear,    is    what    ultimately 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


61 


breaks  her  spirit,  drags  her  down,  not  always  in  morals  neces- 
sarily, but  in  efficiency,  in  desire  for  personal  progress,  in  the 
general  sense  of  being  of  some  value  to  a  community  as  one  of 
its  precious  human  citizens. 

VACATION   AND   AMUSEMENT. 

Table  XXVI. 

AVERAGE  ANNUAL  AMOUNT  ESTIMATED  AS  REASONABLE   MIN- 
IMUM   EXPENDITURE    FOR   VACATION    AND   AMUSEMENTS 
BY  112  GIRLS  CLASSIFIED   BY  OCCUPATION. 

Occupation.  No.         Amount. 

Mercantile    51  $24.78 

Factory   15  27.50 

Laundry    14  27.23 

Miscellaneous   (Office  and 

Telephone,  etc.)    32  32.03 

Employers    138  $29.23 

Table  XXVI  with  its  estimated  account  of  amounts  neces- 
sary for  vacation  and  amusements  shows  the  same  pitiful  tale 
of  economy  which  does  not  economize.  Suppose,  before  examin- 
ing the  table,  we  list  our  amusements  and  vacations.  We  place 
here  diversions  which  the  ordinary  man  and  woman  may  per- 
mit themselves  occasionally  and  not  be  considered  extravagant. 

1.  A  dish  of  ice  cream  once  a  month,  10  cents  each  time. 

2.  A  street  car  ride  to  the  outskirts  on  Sunday,  $5.20  a 
year. 

3.  A  moving  picture  show  once  a  week,  first  class,  10  cents. 
40  cents  a  month ;  second,  third,  fourth  class,  5  cents,  20  cents  a 
month. 

4.  A  vaudeville  entertainment  once  a  month,  first  class,  25 
cents ;  second  class,  15  cents ;  a  good  concert,  50  cents,  or  a  first 
class  play,  rear  seat,  third  balcony ;  10  cents  worth  of  candy 
once  a  month.  A  week's  vacation  once  a  year  at  the  beach 
or  in  the  mountains —  to  go  100  miles  excursion  rates  $5  round 
trip,  room  and  board  one  week  $5  or  $6.  Summing  up  with  first 
class  entertainments,  our  total  is  $29.80  a  year.  Looking  at  our 
table  we  find  that  among  the  three  trades  $27.50  a  year  is  the 
maximum  amount  spent.     Review  the  list  of  expenditures  and 


62  State  of  Washington 

suppose  the  table  for  a  man.  As  no  amount  has  been  stated  for 
tobacco  expenditure  we  substitute  smoking  supplies  for  candy, 
ten  cents  a  month  for  cigars  !  We  do  not  eliminate  the  ice  cream 
because  during  the  busy  hours  the  stools  at  the  soda  water 
fountain  rarely  lack  a  patron.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
the  average  of  the  employers'  estimate,  $29.23,  very  nearly 
covers  the  cost  of  the  suggested  program. 

One  thing  further  must  be  noted — this  allowance  for  amuse- 
ment has  been  made  out  for  one.  Exceeding  as  it  does  the  actual 
expenses  of  the  girls  (Table  XXVI),  it  denies  a  girl 
the  privilege  of  ever  asking  another  girl  to  share  her  street  car 
ride  or  moving  picture  show — to  share  anything  except  her  ten 
cents  worth  of  candy  once  a  month.  This  is  not  a  plea  for  the 
treating  habit;  it  simply  recognizes  the  fact  that  part  of  the 
pleasure  of  human  existence  comes  from  our  ability  to  give  and 
take.  With  the  opportunity  for  giving  gone,  a  girl  with  self 
respect  refuses  the  pleasure  of  taking,  which  without  ability  to 
make  return  soon  becomes  the  habit  of  "sponging.''  Only  in 
her  friendship  with  men  does  she  feel  that  her  company  is  re- 
turn sufficient  for  his  outlay  of  money.  Here,  however,  the  girl 
away  from  home  is  at  a  great  disadvantage.  She  does  not  care 
to  become  friendly  with  any  casual  acquaintance  as  she  might 
with  safety  in  a  home  circle;  her  opportunities  for  meeting  re- 
liable young  men  are  few  and  far  between.  Not  only  must  she 
be  careful  with  the  young  man  of  apparently  good  intentions 
but  she  must  be  on  the  lookout,  especially  if  she  is  at  all  at- 
tractive, for  actual  traps  to  ensnare  her  and  rob  her  of  her 
virtue.  Such  statements  will  not  receive  credit  even  with  some 
of  the  girls  themselves  who  have  not  happened  to  "run  into  any- 
thing," or  who  are  naturally  so  aggressive  that  the  ordinary 
trapper  of  humans  would  flee  them.  But  to  those  who  mingle 
with  the  girls  day  after  day,  the  question,  as  it  affects  the  girl 
away  from  home,  of  ability  to  find  and  pay  for  her  own  decent 
amusement  becomes  steadily  more  serious. 

The  question  of  the  yearly  vacation  of  a  week  has  been  pro- 
vided for  with  meager  allowance  in  our  estimate.     Managers  of 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


63 


mercantile  stores  sometimes  give  a  week's  vacation  with  pay. 
Factory  and  laundry  employes,  however,  must  take  theirs  at 
their  own  expense.  Employers  who  have  opportunities  occa- 
sionally to  take  a  run  South,  or  East  or  just  across  the  ocean, 
are  heard  to  say  that  they  have  not  had  a  vacation  in  ten  years, 
etc.  Yet  to  few  does  this  statement  mean  that  they  have  had 
their  noses  to  the  grindstone  day  following  day  for  ten  years. 
A  Sunday  spent  hunting  or  fishing  or  as  a  "week  end  in  the 
country"  is  a  taste  of  a  vacation.  The  subject  scarcely  needs 
further  discussion.  Physicians,  alienists  and  nerve  specialists 
are  agreed  that  every  person  should  have  a  change  from  his 
surroundings  at  least  once  a  year  for  the  gathering  together  of 
his  forces,  and  for  the  relief  to  his  mind  and  body  that  new  faces 
and  scenes  give. 


MEDICINE  AND   DENTISTRY. 

Table  XXVII. 

AVERAGE  ANNUAL  AMOUNT  ESTIMATED  AS  REASONABLE   MIN- 
IMUM  EXPENDITURE   FOR    MEDICINE  AND   DENTISTRY 
BY   112   GIRLS   CLASSIFIED    BY   OCCUPATION. 

Occupation.  No.         Amount. 

Mercantile    51  $15.67 

Factory   15  16.70 

Laundry    14  22.16 

Miscellaneous   (Office  and 

Telephone,  etc.)    32  13.27 

Employers    138  $13.23 

Table  XXYII  has  a  story  which  throws  light  on  several 
facts.  For  medicine  and  dentistry  laundry  women  spend  the 
largest  amount,  $22.16  a  year,  or  nearly  $2  a  month;  factory 
girls  are  next  in  order  and  mercantile  clerks  spend  least.  The 
class  whose  general  standard  of  living  is  lowest  spends  most 
for  medicine  and  dentistry.  Is  there  not  room  for  an  argument 
here  proving  that  it  pays  a  community  to  see  that  its  wage  earn- 
ers receive  enough  wages  to  enable  them  to  maintain  themselves 
"decently  and  in  health."  Coupled  with  the  facts  that  laundry 
workers  live  under  the  meanest  conditions  and  spend  more  in 
maintenance  of  health  than  do  the  employes  of  other  trades  re- 


64  State  of  Washington 

corded,  is  the  third  fact  that  as  a  trade,  laundry  work  is  prob- 
ably the  most  physically  exhausting  of  any  that  women  engage 
in.  We  speak  advisedly  when  we  say  "physically  exhaust- 
ing." Telephone  operating  and  certain  kinds  of  high  speed 
power  machine  work  is  "nervously  exhausting."  Clerks  on  their 
feet  all  day  grow  physically  weary  from  standing,  but  of  all 
the  other  occupations,  none  has  with  it  the  weakness  and  weari- 
ness that  comes  from  standing  on  concrete  floors  (sometimes 
wood),  working  with  arms  or  feet,  or  both,  in  an  over  heated 
atmosphere  and  until  recent  days,  often  in  foul,  heavy  air. 

SUMMARY. 

Table  XXVIII,  which  give's  the  actual  expenses  of  27 
young  women,  would  seem  to  indicate  that  in  making  out  esti- 
mates the  112  girls  did  not  allow  a  sufficient  amount  for  phy- 
sicians' and  dentists'  care.  Of  these  27,  25  reported  a  total 
outla}'  of  $515.50  or  $20.62,  as  an  average  for  the  year.  Two 
girls  gave  $5  as  their  expenditure.  None  of  the  others  fell 
below  $10  and  one,  who  had  spent  nothing  for  laundry,  news- 
papers or  magazines,  stationery,  postage,  association  dues  or 
insurance,  but  $5  for  vacation  and  $6  for  amusements,  had  spent 
$80  for  medicine  and  dentistry. 

Table  XXVIII. 

ACTUAL  COST  OF  LIVING  OF  27  EMPLOYES  FROM   MERCANTILE 

STORES   FOR  ONE  YEAR. 

Room  and   Board $287.56 

Clothing    131.80 

Laundry  and  Medicine 22.92 

Car  Fare 20.  62 

Newspapers  29.17 

Magazines    4.15 

Stationery  and  Postage 3.  98 

Association   Dues   3.45 

Insurance    12.79 

Vacation   Expenses    13.81 

Amusements    11  .47 

Church     7.05 

Incidentals 9.51 

Total $568.28 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


65 


Table  XXIX. 

ESTIMATED   TOTAL    ANNUAL    EXPENDITURE    BY    112    GIRLS 
CLASSIFIED   BY   OCCUPATION. 

Occupation.  No.         Amount. 

Mercantile    51  $523.27 

Factory 15  489.24 

Laundry    14  499.27 

Miscellaneous  (Office  and 

Telephone,    etc.)    32  518.96 

Employers    138  $535.10 

—3 


QQ  State  of  Washington 

Section  V. 
PERSONAL  COMMENTS. 

(A)    EMPLOYERS'   COMMENTS. 

Schedules  were  sent  to  a  large  number  of  employers  request- 
ing that  they  estimate  the  cost  of  items  necessary  for  a  wage- 
earning  woman's  decent  subsistence.  138  were  returned  accom- 
panied by  explanatory  letters  or  with  comments.  The  following 
are  presented  to  give  an  idea  of  the  attitude  of  employers  to- 
ward the  establishment  of  a  minimum  wage. 

1.  This  estimate  for  the  cost  of  living  for  one  year 
amounted  to  $441.00.  The  sender  says:  "I  am  very  much  op- 
posed to  girls  working  in  public  places,  under  18  years  of  age, 
and  a  great  believer  in  paying  all  employes  all  they  are  worth, 
making  them  feel  that  their  efforts  are  appreciated,  which  by 
experience  I  have  found  very  profitable,  thereby  receiving  all 
and  full  value  of  their  ability." 

2.  A  man  who  allows  $544  a  year  suggests  a  graduated 
wage  scale.  He  says :  "Girls  without  experience  should  have 
at  least  $5  a  week ;  girls  having  from  one  to  two  years'  exper- 
ience, should  have  at  least  $7  a  week ;  girls  having  from  two 
to  five  years'  experience  should  have  at  least  $10  a  week."  Pro- 
gress in  this  case  would  be  discouragingly  slow. 

'  3.  $519  is  the  estimate  of  this  employer.  "I  consider  $10 
per  week  salary  about  as  low  as  a  woman  can  get  along  with 
and  be  what  is  required  of  her  in  the  average  Seattle  store.  If 
a  young  lady  lives  at  home  with  her  folks,  the  amount  can,  of 
course,  be  somewhat  less.  A  saleswoman  worthy  of  the  name 
should  earn  from  $12  to  $15  per  week.  My  estimate  applies 
only  to  saleswomen  in  dry  goods  and  in  other  city  stores.  I  have 
often  taken  young  girls  that  have  homes  and  started  them  with 
$7  a  week.  In  two  or  three  years  their  salary  was  always  $10 
or  more,  or  they  did  not  stay  with  me." 

4.  A  man  who  gives  $623  for  a  year's  maintenance  says 
that  these  figures  are  for  the  woman  "untrained  to  do  or  make 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


67 


anything  for  herself,  who  would  be,  of  course,  an  exceptional 
character.  The  list  is  prepared  for  only  such  people.  Multi- 
tudes of  men  support  and  educate  considerable  families  with 
such  an  amount  of  money." 

5.  "In  reply  to  your  request,  the  writer  has  made  an  es- 
timate based  on  the  theory  that  the  girl  or  woman  employed  was 
not  living  at  home,  or  with  friends,  but  was  compelled  to  pay 
her  way  the  same  as  a  man  would  among  strangers.  There  is 
one  important  item  of  expense  not  enumerated  in  the  schedule, 
viz.,  lost  time  on  account  of  sickness  or  the  want  of  a  job. 
Therefore,  the  writer  believes  his  estimate  of  $633.70  is  a  con- 
servative one." 

6.  A  man  who  allowed  $611,  excluding  repair  of  clothing, 
says :  "These  figures  ought  not  to  apply  to  girls  working  in 
factories  so  far  as  clothing  is  concerned.  A  girl  in  a  factory 
can  dress  respectably  for  much  less  than  a  girl  in  an  office  or  a 
store.  The  big  department  stores  today  in  the  cities  do  not 
pay  their  help,  in  proportion  to  expenses,  as  much  salary  as 
the  merchants  in  small  country  towns.  I  sincerely  hope  the  In- 
dustrial Welfare  Commission  will  be  a  means  of  bringing  about 
better  salaries  for  those  who  have  been  underpaid  and  over- 
worked." 

7.  An  employer  whose  total  is  $529.96  allows  50  cents  a 
day  for  meals. 

8.  The  total  here  is  $370.30.  "(1)  The  foregoing  schedule 
is  based  upon  the  assumption  that  the  person  under  consider- 
ation is  all  the  term  prudent  implies,  and  based  upon  the  annual 
cost  of  maintenance  under  normal  conditions.  This  is  a  fixed 
quantity.  (2)  Being  prudent  has  the  person  the  mental  and 
physical  strength  to  earn  her  own  living?  Right  here  is  the 
problem.  Has  she  had  the  training  necessary  to  qualify  her  for 
the  battle  of  life?  True,  she  has  the  right  to  live.  But  she 
must  be  a  producer  of  the  means  necessary  for  her  maintenance, 
otherwise  she  is  an  incubus  and  a  victim  of  her  own  inability. 
This  brings  us  face  to  face  with  conditions.  A  woman  under 
normal  conditions  qualified  to  perform  the  duties  of  every  day  life 


68  State  of  Washington 


should  not  receive  less  than  $2  per  day  of  eight  hours,  or  a  total 
of  $576  per  year,  to  be  increased  according  to  ability  to  earn 
the  same.     Further  comment  is  unnecessary." 

9.  "Estimates  in  this  schedule  are  taken  and  given  under 
conditions  that  two  or  more  girls  live  together  in  one  apartment 
of  rooms,  do  part  of  their  own  cooking,  do  their  own  mending 
of  clothes  and  make  part  of  their  dresses,  as  alterations,  etc., 
which  kind  of  work  they  have  plenty  of  time  to  do  when  employed 
only  8  hours  a  day.  Street  car  fare  is  eliminated  in  my  estimate 
because  in  smaller  cities  we  do  not  have  this  facility  and  in 
larger  cities,  room  rent  would  be  cheaper  in  a  suburb  and 
affect  the  street  car  fare."  The  total  of  this  estimate  (allowing 
only  half  rates  for  room)  is  $406. 

10.  "It  is  almost  impossible  to  itemize  accurately  as  the  ex- 
pense depends  largely  upon  locality,  etc.  The  average  sales 
girl  lives  at  home  and  wages  are  used  principally  as  spending 
money.  Also  the  expenditures  of  some,  manv  of  them,  are 
largely  in  excess  of  necessity.  The  figures  itemized  are  suffi- 
cient to  dress  a  sales  girl  as  the  up-to-date  girl  of  today  demands 
and  undoubtedly  better  than  the  average  married  lady  of  the 
working  class  today.  Personal  opinion  is  not  requested  on  this 
sheet  but  my  idea  of  justice  is  to  see  wages  of  men  increased 
sufficiently  to  enable  them  to  support  a  family  comfortably.  This 
would  bring  about  more  marriages,  less  divorces  and  happier 
homes  amongst  the  married  class."  The  estimate  is  for  $443.50 
with  $5  a  week  allowed  for  room  and  board. 

11.  A  man  giving  an  estimate  of  $450  for  one  year  says: 
"The  estimate  given  on  the  other  side  of  this  sheet,  to  my  way 
of  thinking,  is  liberal.  I  know  of  cases  where  girls  can  get  along 
with  50  per  cent,  less  than  the  figures  given  herewith ;  however, 
those  are  in  the  minority." 

12.  "I  have  given  this  matter  my  earnest  attention  and 
beg  leave  to  submit  a  statement  which  is  the  best  that  I  can 
arrive  at.  In  doing  so  I  understand  that  the  items  are  more  or 
less  arbitrary  but  I  have  reduced  them  to  as  low  an  amount  as 
I  think  it  is  possible  to  do.     This  would  make  a  minimum  wage 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


69 


of  $13.93  per  week,  possibly  a  little  higher  than  has  been  fixed 
in  other  states.  I  notice,  for  instance,  that  the  minimum  wage 
in  Oregon  is  $9.25  per  week,  but  this  to  my  judgment  is  too 
low." 

13.  A  laundryman  giving  an  estimate  of  $400  for  a  }rear 
says :  "The  ordinary  working  girl  wears  a  suit,  dresses,  under- 
wear, etc.,  two  or  three  years."  (  !) 

14.  The  man  who  submitted  this  estimate  allowed  $572  a 
year :  "To  the  Spartan  mind  this  might  seem  an  exhorbitant  sum 
for  the  support  and  maintenance  of  any  woman,  but  taking  into 

consideration  the  'meals  and  room'  in  all  our  large  cities  like , 

a  woman  cannot  procure  a  room  in  a  respectable  hotel  or  room- 
ing house  for  less  than  $3  or  $4  a  week  and  is  compelled  to  take 
her  meals  at  a  restaurant,  at,  in  most  restaurants,  a  minimum  of 
25  cents  per  meal.  The  other  items  shown,  I  believe,  are  entirely 
within  reach."  This  gentleman  at  first  allowed  $375  a  >Tear  for 
room  and  board  but  reduced  it  $100,  which  left  his  total  the 
figure  given  above. 

15.  A  member  of  a  large  mercantile  firm  who  allows  $482.45 
a  year  says :  "Estimates  are  for  girls  dependent  on  them- 
selves and  away  from  home.  Girls  living  at  home,  as  nearly  all 
of  our  girls  do,  would  require  much  less  than  $480." 

16.  No  sum  was  stated  on  this  blank,  a  manufacturer's, 
but  the  following  comment  is  offered :  "I  am  in  no  position  to 
know  how  much  it  requires  for  a  woman  to  maintain  herself,  still 
I  do  not  believe  that  it  can  be  done  for  less  than  from  $10  to 
$12  per  week  when  relying  entirely  on  herself." 

"I  find,  however,  that  in  a  great  number  of  cases  where  girls 
are  living  with  their  parents,  even  when  receiving  from  $6  to  $8 
it  adds  to  the  family  income.  The  same  is  also  the  case  with 
married  women  who  have  no  families  and  whose  husband  as  well 
as  the  wife  is  working  out.  A  number  of  women  employed  by 
us  are  married,  but  have  no  children  and,  although  they  would 
not  need  to  work  their  husbands  being  well  able  to  support 
them,  all  being  steadily  employed,  still  they  prefer  to  work  rather 
than   sit  around   at  home.      The  average  wage   paid  by   us   to 


70  State  of  Washington 

women  is  over  $12  per  week.  I  do  believe  that  the  minimum 
wage  per  week  for  a  woman  should  be  not  less  than  $10;  there 
should  however  be  provision  for  apprentices  who  are  learning  a 
trade." 

17.  A  man  giving  $523  a  year  as  a  minimum  cost  of  living 
says :  "A  woman  to  live  on  this  amount  must  be  of  good  health 
and  can't,  as  I  see  it,  save  anything  for  sickness  or  old  age,  just 
live  as  I  think  anyone  willing  to  work  should  live." 

18.  "In  submitting  these  figures,  I  have  allowed  on  most 
items  sufficient  lee-way  to  save  from  $2  to  $3  per  week,  as  I 
consider  that  also  a  necessity  and  that  there  is  no  comfortable 
living  without  saving  a  little  each  week  regularly."  The  esti- 
mate is  for  $790.50. 

18.  "This  estimate  ($455.70)  is  a  reproduction  of  the  ac- 
tual expenditures  of  a  clerk  of  mine  who  receives  a  salary  of 
$15  a  week  and  I  believe  a  very  good  estimate  of  what  can  be 
done  if  a  woman  so  desires." 

"I  also  have  another  clerk  who  works  in  the  same  department 
and  receives  the  same  salary  but  cannot  show  such  results.  The 
first  lady  can  show  a  bank  account  and  the  other  cannot.  She 
tells  me  she  will  show  a  still  larger  bank  account  the  coining  year. 
These  two  ladies  have  no  home  and  must  figure  to  make  ends 
meet.  I  have  another  lady  who  is  receiving  $15  a  week  and  sup- 
ports a  mother  and  saves  money  each  week.  I  have  three  other 
young  ladies  who  receive  $9,  $10  and  $12.50  and  buy  their  mer- 
chandise of  all  descriptions  at  10  per  cent,  above  actual  cost  and 
still  cannot  save  a  cent  and  also  live  with  their  parents.  These 
three  ladies  are  just  fair  clerks  and  are  getting  all,  if  not  more, 
than  they  are  worth,  still  they  think  they  are  underpaid  and  are 
never  satisfied.  Why?  Because  they  have  no  purpose  in  life 
and  even  if  they  were  receiving  $15  a  week  their  ideas  would  re- 
main the  same.  Give  me  the  homeless  woman  and  I  will  pay 
her  a  good  salary.  I  will  then  have  the  best  type  of  American 
womanhood.  But  what  are  you  going  to  do  with  the  last  three 
I  have  mentioned?  Shorten  their  hours  for  work  and  raise  their 
salary  and  by  doing  so  lessen  their  ability?" 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


1 


19.  "As  per  your  request  of  October  10  I  have  used  my  best 
judgment  in  this  matter  and  have  answered  the  questions  for 
a  girl  either  employed  in  an  office  or  store.  A  girl  of  domestic 
work  should  not  need  as  much.  I  also  think  that  there  is  some 
difference  in  a  town  and  in  a  city. 

Meals — If  the  girl  does  not  live  at  home  she  will  need  $208. 

Room — Two  girls  would  have  to  pay  here  $7.50  but  in 
city  $10. 

Shoes  and  rubbers — She  needs  3  pairs  of  shoes  at  $3  each,  a 
pair  of  dancing  pumps  and  a  pair  of  oxfords. 

Underwear  $11.50 — In  this  I  have  included  her  muslins. 

Petticoats  $10.50 — This  includes  3  silk  petticoats  at  $2.50 
each. 

Stockings  $7.50 — This  includes  3  pair  of  silk  stockings  and 
6  pair  of  lisle. 

Suits  $35.00—2  suits  a  year  at  $17.50  each.  This  is  as 
much  as  she  needs  to  pay  if  she  has  good  judgment  and  buys 
right.  Some  ready-made-to-wear  stores  should  be  compelled  to 
make  a  report  of  what  profit  they  charge.     It's  a  bad  game. 

Coats  $17.50 — Two  coats  in  three  years  at  an  average  cost 
of  $17.50  is  all  she  should  pay.  Good  summer  coat  need  not 
cost  her  more  than  $10.00. 

Dresses  $27.50— Two  good  dresses  at  $10.00  each.  This 
again  depends  on  her  qualities  as  a  buyer.  $7.50  for  house 
dress  and  kimonas  should  be  enough. 

Shirtwaist — $4.00  worth  properly  bought  should  last  a  year. 

Corsets  $4.50 — Two  corsets  $2.00  each,  should  be  plenty. 

Handkerchiefs  $3.00 — They  lose  a  lot  of  them  and  need 
about  2  dozen. 

Corsetwaist  $1.50 — Depends  on  style  of  dress,  $1.50  may 
be  a  little  short. 

Gloves  $6.50 — 3  pair  kid  gloves  at  $1.50  each,  balance  for 
silk  and  lisle. 

Neckwear  $1.50- — $1.50  properly  bought  is  good. 

Hats  $12.50 — She  has  to  have  at  least  two  a  year  at  $5  each, 
balance  for  auto  caps  and  veils. 


72  State  of  Washington 


Umbrella  $1.50 — One  every  two  years  at  $3  is  enough  if 
bought  right.    For  this  price  she  can  buy  a  silk  one. 

Repair  on  clothing  she  must  do  herself  so  long  as  she  only 
works  eight  hours. 

Laundry  $39.00 — This  depends  on  the  people  she  rents  her 
room  from.  Many  people  do  not  want  to  rent  rooms  to  girls 
because  they  do  some  laundry  work ;  for  this  reason  I  have  al- 
lowed $39.00  which  can  be  shaded.  Since  she  works  only  eight 
hours,  she  could  do  most  of  it  herself,  but  she  is  not  allowed  to 
do  so  by  landlord. 

Medicine  and  Dentistry — She  should  not  spend  more  than 
$5  by  visiting  the  dentist  frequently.  She  should  learn  not  to 
use  medicines.  The  $5.00  is  short  when  toilet  preparations  are 
figured  in.  She  needs  under  this  head  soaps  and  creams  and 
tooth  powder. 

Street  car  fare  $36.50 — If  she  lives  in  place  where  there  is 
none  she  needs  the  same  amount  for  pleasure  boating  and  auto- 
mobiles. $36.50  is  little  high  unless  she  has  to  go  to  work  every 
day  in  some  conveyance. 

Newspaper  and  magazines — $4.50  is  as  little  as  it  ought  to 
be. 

Stationery  and  postage — $3.00 ;  when  she  writes  more  than 
what  that  will  pay  for  she  is  wasting  her  time,  it  would  be  bet- 
ter to  do  some  fancy  work. 

Association  dues  $3.00 — I  am  allowing  her  to  belong  to  one 
or  two  clubs  on  an  average  of  $1.50  per  club  dues;  she  should 
belong  to  one  music  club  and  something  else  that  might  strike 
her  fancy. 

Insurance — Unless  she  has  a  mother  depending  on  her  for 
her  living,  she  has  no  business  with  any  insurance  and  the  first 
fellow  or  agent  that  makes  her  believe  that  she  should,  ought 
to  lose  his  license. 

Vacation— $30.00  is  not  too  much  for  this.  She  ought  to 
have  $3.00  a  day  for  ten  days.  Our  wives  can  not  take  theirs  on 
that  amount. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  73 

Amusements — $31.00  should  be  spent  while  she  is  working; 
she  has  to  see  and  do  something  to  laugh  at. 

Church — No  girl  should  be  asked  to  contribute  more  than 
$5.00  to  any  church ;  $2.50  for  little  church  amusements. 

Incidentals — Wedding,  birthday  and  Christmas  gifts  should 
come  under  this  head ;  also  some  fancy  work  material  and  a  few 
music  lessons."     Total  $628.50. 

(B)    EMPLOYES'    COMMENTS. 

No.  1.  This  woman  gives  her  estimate  as  $445  a  year.  She 
says  that  she  does  not  attend  church  and  she  doesn't  have  any 
vacation. 

No.  2,  who  gives  an  estimate  of  $710.75,  states  that  girls  who 
have  no  home  and  must  depend  entirely  on  themselves  could  not 
live  on  less  than  this  amount.  "If  a  girl  could  do  her  own  laun- 
dry and  sewing,  of  course  it  would  be  a  little  less,  but  after  a  girl 
has  worked  all  day  she  needs  recreation  instead  of  sitting  up 
half  of  the  night  to  sew  her  clothes.  As  for  washing  her  clothes, 
I  do  not  think  there  are  many  places,  if  any,  where  it  is  con- 
venient for  a  girl  to  launder  her  clothes." 

No.  3.  A  waitress  places  her  estimate  at  $530.  She  says : 
"I  have  no  insurance,  I  repair  my  own  clothing,  I  have  no  chance 
for  vacation  and  work  others  for  my  amusements." 

No.  4,  with  an  estimate  of  $541.50,  states  that  she  figures  on 
doing  the  greater  part  of  her  laundry  and  all  of  her  plain  sew- 
ing. 

No.  5  says :  "I  live  at  home  with  my  brother  and  mother. 
My  brother  and  I  support  my  mother.  Mother  and  I  make  all 
our  own  clothes  and  do  our  repairing  of  clothes.  Mother  does 
my  laundry.  There  are  no  street  cars.  I  do  not  belong  to  any 
association  or  carry  any  life  insurance.  I  have  not  taken  any 
vacation.  The  first  of  September  I  had  an  operation  for  appen- 
dicitis which  was  very  expensive.  I  had  to  stay  at  home  for  a 
month  which  meant  a  loss  of  wages  for  that  time." 

No.  6.  "My  income  is  $365  a  year  and  I  am  living  at  home, 
which  accounts  for  my  being  able  to  live  within  my  income.'' 


74  State  of  Washington 

No.  7.  "There  are  a  number  of  girls  working  in  this  town 
for  $5  a  week.  I  earn  $10  per  week  and  couldn't  begin  to  make 
ends  meet  with  the  high  cost  of  living  if  I  didn't  live  at  home." 
What  the  home  supplies  to  this  girl  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  her 
income  is  $520  and  her  cost  of  living  $823.25. 

No.  8.  A  bookkeeper  in  a  5,  10  and  15c  store  started  at  $4 
a  week  five  years  ago.  At  present  she  is  receiving  $8.  She  lives 
at  home  and  contributes  $1  a  week  to  the  family  income.  Her 
cost  of  living  including  this  contribution  is  $413.75.  She  has 
no  laundry  bill  and  no  bill  for  repair  of  clothing,  no  association 
dues  nor  insurance. 

No.  9.  A  woman  giving  $600.25  as  her  estimate  for  a  year, 
a  stenographer,  states  that  items  such  as  vacation  expenses, 
amusements,  incidentals  vary  to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  estimate  them  with  any  degree  of  accuracy.  "Inci- 
dentals as  a  rule  amount  to  a  good  deal  more  than  I  have  stated 
($10)  while  the  other  items  are  governed  almost  entirely  by  the 
state  of  one's  pocket  book  at  the  time." 

No.  10.  A  stenographer,  cost  of  living  $610.00  a  year. 
"As  I  live  at  home  general  expenses  are  not  as  high  as  though  I 
lived  in  rented  rooms.  Also  I  carry  life  insurance  with  practi- 
cally $50  as  a  yearly  premium.  My  church  contributions  are 
$12  a  year,  but  I  have  suggested  $5  for  the  ordinary  person. 
The  insurance  item  I  consider  necessary  although  it  might  not 
be  considered  so  by  many  people." 

No.  11.  A  waitress,  states  $470.25  as  her  cost  of  living 
which  includes  $7  a  month  for  meals.  She  says :  "I  am  a  wait- 
ress and  get  nearly  all  my  meals  where  I  am  employed.  If  I 
had  to  pay  for  all  of  my  meals  I  could  not  make  ends  meet." 

No.  12.  A  woman  with  an  income  of  $15  a  week  for  50 
weeks  who  saves  something  each  year  says :  "$75  a  year  saved 
for  future  needs  is  the  least  any  woman  should  be  expected  to 
bank." 

No.  13.  "I  wish  to  ask  you  if  you  ever  thought  that  lots 
of  the  immorality  and  low  wages  do  not  come  because  married 
women  working  take  the  places  of  the  girl  and  woman  that  has 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


75 


to  work,  and  let  their  children  run  on  the  street.  I  have  no- 
ticed that  it  is  the  single  girl  who  has  to  fight  for  better  wages 
while  the  married  woman  will  take  what  is  given  her  or  what 
the  girl  fights  and  gets  for  her.  Now  if  there  was  some  kind 
of  a  law  that  a  married  woman  had  to  go  before  a  court  and 
swear  to  an  affidavit  that  her  husband  could  not  support  her, 
or  that  she  could  not  live  within  his  means  I  think  the  wages 
would  be  better  for  the  girls  and  the  children  would  have  home 
influences  that  are  lacking  now,  for  many  women  would  not  go 
to  work  nor  would  their  husbands  let  them  (if  they  had  to 
make  such  affidavit.)  Now,  if  you  really  wish  to  help  the  girls, 
do  try  to  get  some  law  that  will  rid  stores,  factories,  schools 
and  offices  of  so  many  married  women,  and  then  girls  will  look 
out  and  get  someone  who  can  support  them  instead  of  getting 
married  Saturday  night  and  coming  to  work  Monday  morning 
as  is  so  often  the  case.  I  believe  that  there  will  not  only  be 
better  wages  for  the  girls,  but  also  for  the  men,  less  immorality, 
fewer  divorces,  better  homes  and  lots  more  happiness.  Think 
this  over." 

No.  14.  One  girl  giving  her  cost  of  living  as  $634.75, 
says :  "I  do  my  laundry  in  the  evening  or  on  Sunday  and  also 
my  mending.  I  have  not  had  a  vacation  since  earning  my  own 
living.     I  cannot  afford  amusements." 

No.  15.  "I  have  filled  this  out  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 
As  I  am  a  widow  and  have  a  child  to  support,  my  wages  are 
$6  a  week.  But  I  have  my  own  home  and  do  my  own  washing, 
sewing  and  everything  like  that  at  night.  My  boy  is  big  enough 
to  go  to  school  and  stay  home  till  I  get  there,  but  I  for  one 
will  be  very  glad  if  they  will  only  do  something  to  make  it 
better  for  the  women." 

No.  16.  This  comment  came  from  a  woman  earning  $65 
a  month.  She  spends  $10  a  year  on  vacations,  $2  on  amuse- 
ments. Her  room  and  board  cost  her  $31  a  month,  her  clothes 
$137  a  year.  Her  total  estimate  was  $631  for  the  year.  She 
says    "I  have  no  money  to   spend   for  newspapers   and  maga- 


zines. 


55 


76  State  of  Washington 

No.  17.  "I  think  that  all  waitresses  should  get  two  dollars 
per  day.  We  cannot  live  comfortably  on  less.  Our  work  com- 
pels us  to  wear  good,  neat  and  clean  clothes." 

No.  18.  "In  this  estimate,  $561.35,  I  figure  on  doing  all 
my  own  sewing  except  the  making  of  my  suit  and  coat  which 
will  be  worn  for  two  years.  I  trim  my  hats,  repair  my  clothing. 
Also  do  some  of  my  laundry.  For  reading  matter  I  expect  to 
take  advantage  of  the  public  library." 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


77 


Section  VI, 
PRACTICAL    PROBLEMS. 

The  preceding  sections  have  set  forth  the  present  low  rate 
of  wages  in  the  mercantile,  factory  and  laundry  industries  in  the 
state,  and  have  given  detailed  computations  of  the  costs  of  liv- 
ing which  indicate  what  is  the  minimum  cost  of  subsistence 
for  self-supporting  women  workers  who  are  attempting  to 
maintain  a  decent  standard  of  living.  The  figures  show  that 
$10.00  a  week  is  approximately  the  minimum  for  decent  sub- 
sistence and  that  67  per  cent  get  less  than  that  amount. 

This  investigation  has  been  made  with  a  view  to  the  admin- 
istration of  the  law  enacted  by  the  state  legislature  which  de- 
clares that  "it  shall  be  unlawful  to  employ  women  in  any  in- 
dustry or  occupation  in  the  state  of  Washington  under  condi- 
tions of  labor  detrimental  to  their  health  and  morals  and  *  *  * 
at  wages  which  are  not  adequate  for  their  maintenance."  (Sec- 
tion II). 

It  is  clear  from  the  facts  presented  that  considerable  re- 
adjustment of  the  wage  scale  will  be  required. 

The  study  would  not  be  complete  without  a  discussion  of 
some  of  the  questions  involved  in  the  payment  of  wages  at  pres- 
ent and  of  some  of  the  results  of  under-payment.  The  latter 
topic  leads  not  only  to  a  consideration  of  physical  and  moral 
aspects  of  the  problem,  but  also  of  the  industrial  education 
phase. 

NOMINAL  AND   REAL   WAGES. 

When  we  speak  of  a  minimum  cost  of  living  and  a  minimum 
wage  to  take  care  of  it,  we  base  the  cost  of  living  on  the  ex- 
penses for  one  year.  We  speak  of  ten  dollars  a  week  as  neces- 
sary and  feel  that  all  is  well  if  provision  is  made  for  that 
amount.  A  point  to  be  remembered,  however,  is  that  nominal 
wages  are  not  real  wages,  and  that  a  girl  who  is  earning  at 
the  rate  of  ten  dollars  a  week,  in  the  end  may  not  have  more 
than  seven  dollars  to  spend. 


78  State  of  Washington 

SEASONAL  WORK   AND   UNEMPLOYMENT. 

The  distressing,  complicated  questions  of  seasonal  work 
and  of  unemployment  are  the  most  vexing  of  the  day. 
Every  industry  has  its  rush  and  dull  periods.  Manufacturers' 
busy  seasons  vary  from  three  to  six  months.  Laundries  are 
open  the  year  around,  but  in  the  months  from  October  to 
April  work  slackens.  The  three  summer  months  are  the  busi- 
est of  the  year.  Then  the  week  is  a  "full  week"  of  hours,  but 
during  the  other  nine  months  the  wages  received  fall  considerably 
below  the  amount  anticipated  from  the  rate  of  pay.  Table  XX 
showed  the  weekly  hours  of  work  reported  by  2185  laundry 
workers  classified  by  occupations.  The  ironers  as  one  of  the 
most  skilled  classes,  are  taken  for  an  example.  Ironers  re- 
ceive from  twenty-five  to  thirty  cents  an  hour.  In  the  table, 
30.5  per  cent  of  the  workers  reported  a  week  averaging  be- 
tween forty-one  and  forty-four  hours  a  week.  Let  us  take  forty- 
two  and  one-half  hours  at  twenty-five  cents  an  hour  as  an 
average  week.  A  woman  at  this  schedule  would  earn  $10.62. 
But  a  woman  who  works  a  full  week  of  48  hours  at  the  same 
rate  would  earn  $12.00.  The  problem  is  more  worrisome  to 
the  mangle  crew,  76  per  cent  of  whom  work  less  than  a  full 
week,  and  in  some  laundries  at  a  rate  of  121/2  cents  an  hour. 
If  the  maximum  amount  that  a  girl  is  promised  be  $6.00  a  week, 
she  has  reason  to  be  alarmed  if  she  is  hindered  by  short  weeks 
or  dull  seasons,  from  earning  the  smallest  fraction  of  it. 

Fruit  and  vegetable  canneries  are  open  in  full  force  from 
June  to  October ;  then  the  work  grows  lighter  and  in  December 
they  close  for  another  six  months.  Candy  and  cigar  factories 
are  busy  in  the  fall  and  up  to  the  Christinas  time.  A  dull 
month  follows,  but  February  finds  the  candy  makers  busy  again 
with  the  eggs  and  other  fancies  for  Easter. 

Seasons  for  retail  stores  vary  somewhat  with  the  class  of 
wares  carried.  Confectionery  stores  which  are  usually  oper- 
ated in  connection  with  ice-cream  parlors  are  busiest  in  the 
summer  months,  but  they,  too,  arc  rushed  for  a  month  before 
the  winter  holidays.  The  large  department  stores  have  ja 
steadier  flow  of  trade  than  do  factories  and  laundries.     Besides 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


79 


the  seasonal  "openings"  which  may  last  for  two  months  at  a 
time,  there  are  spasmodic  rushes  centering  around  specially 
arranged  sales.  For  the  former,  extra  clerks  are  engaged,  but 
during  the  latter,  the  shoppers  are  served  by  transferring  sales- 
women from  one  department  to  the  "specials"  counter.  During 
the  Christmas  holiday  rush  some  firms  double  the  regular 
number  of  women  employes.  For  some  of  the  girls,  employ- 
ment lasts  through  six  weeks,  but  for  others  only  three.  But 
even  the  permanently  employed  force  feels  the  weight  of  the 
slack  winter  season,  because  of  the  custom  of  giving  unpaid 
"vacations"  two  weeks  to  a  month  in  length. 

The  dull  seasons  are  a  problem  to  many  girls.  For  it  means 
that  even  during  their  periods  of  employment  they  have  unpro- 
ductive weeks  ahead  staring  them  in  the  face,  and  if  possible 
they  must  save  for  these  days  when  they  will  probably  be  out 
of  work.  Some  girls  take  advantage  of  the  busy  seasons  in 
various  industries,  which  come  at  different  times  of  the  year, 
and  find  employment  at  several  lines  of  work  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  twelve  months. 

How  the  seasonal  character  of  work  may  affect  a  wage- 
earner  is  apparent  if  we  take  10  months  a  year  as  her  maxi- 
mum length  of  employment.  Ten  months  approximate  43  weeks 
of  employment,  which  at  $10  a  week  would  mean  $430  as  her 
annual  income.  Yet  if  the  bare  cost  of  living  for  her  is  $10 
a  week  for  52  weeks,  she  is  $90  short  for  the  year.  $430  a 
year  averages  $8.25  a  week.  And  at  that,  steady  employment 
for  ten  months  would  be  unheard  of  good  fortune  for  many  a 
girl. 


80 


State  of  Washington 


TIME   AND    PIECE    RATES   OF   PAYMENT. 
Table  XXX. 

TABLE    SHOWING    RELATIVE    NUMBER    OF    FEMALE    EMPLOYES 

IN    FACTORIES  AND   LAUNDRIES   WORKING   BY  TIME  AND 

PIECE  RATE  AND  CLASSIFIED  AS  MINORS  AND  ADULTS. 


AGE 

PIECE 

TIME 

Factories 

Laundries 

Factories 

Laundries 

Minors  (under  18) 

Adults   (over   18) 

88 

445 

2 
131 

177 
1,043 

147 
2,024 

Totals 

533 

133 

1,220 

2,171 

Two-fifths  of  adult  time  workers  in  factories  get  $9.00  or  more  a 
week. 

One-third  of  adult  piece  workers  in  factories  get  $9.00  or  more  a 
week. 

Table  XXX  gives  the  relative  number  of  1753  women  in 
factories  and  of  2,304  in  laundries  who  are  working  by  time 
and  piece  rates.  In  factories  out  of  533  working  by  piece 
rates,  88  were  minors  and  455  were  adults.  Among  1,220 
working  by  time  rates,  177  were  minors  and  1,013  were 
adults.  In  laundries,  out  of  119  minors,  two  only  were 
employed  by  piece  rates,  but  131  adults  from  among  2,155 
worked  under  this  system.  Payment  of  wages  according  to 
the  amount  of  work  accomplished  is  a  custom  so  well  estab- 
lished that  employes  as  well  as  employers  would  not  like  to  see 
it  abolished.  Yet  there  are  several  dangers  attached  to  the 
use  of  it.  Some  of  these  are  a  developing  greed  on  the  part  of 
the  employers  which  impels  them  to  cut  the  workers'  rates,  and 
a  driving  attitude  which  sometimes  loses  sight  of  the  fact  that 
the  employes  are  human  beings.  On  the  part  of  the  worker, 
piece  work,  because  of  a  necessity  induced  by  the  low  rates,  or 
because  of  a  desire  to  increase  her  wage  and  because  of  a  mis- 
taken ambition  to  make  a  record  by  overtime  forces  a  worker 
to  speed  up  to  a  degree  which  eventually  causes  a  breakdown. 
These  several  dangers  have  been  so  clearly  illustrated  by  Miss 
Josephine    Goldmark,    Publication    Secretary    of    the    National 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


81 


Consumers'    League,    in    her    book,    "Fatigue    and   Efficiency," 
that  her  description  is  quoted  below: 

"Briefly,  piece-work  presupposes  a  naturally  varying  rate 
of  work  and  output  among  individuals,  according  to  which  each 
worker  is  paid.  Obviously,  this  should  be  the  most  just  way 
to  allow  the  play  of  natural  talents.  Increased  effort  or  skill 
brings  its  immediate  reward,  and  the  best  worker  is  the  best 
paid."  *  *  *  "In  criticising  the  piece-rates,  therefore, 
we  are  dealing  with  an  entrenched  practice,  and  criticism 
must  attack  not  the  system,  but  its  flagrant  abuses.  These, 
unfortunately  are  common  and  widespread,  especially  among 
workingwomen  in  poorly  organized  trades,  where  no  collective 
bargaining  protects  individuals  from  pressure.  In  such  occupa- 
tions, of  which  the  ramified  needle  and  clothing  trades  are  the 
best  examples,  piece-work  devolops  chiefly  into  a  system  of 
'speeding  up'  the  workers  in  both  machine  and  hand  work. 
The  workers  are  spurred  to  a  feverish  intensity.  They  apply 
themselves  hectically.  It  is  almost  inevitable  that  the  most 
rapid  workers  should  be  so  called  'pace-makers'  and  set  the 
rhythym  for  all  the  other  workers.  For  pay  is  usually  ad- 
justed to  the  rate  of  the  quickest  workers,  and  in  order  to  earn 
a  fair  wage,  all  the  others  must  keep  up  as  near  to  them  as  pos- 
sible." 

"Many  employers  contend  that  unless  workers  have  such 
incentives,  or  a  personal  stake  in  working  steadily,  they  tend  to 
slacken  and  are  indifferent  to  the  amount  of  their  output  so. 
long  as  wages  are  assured.  The  workers,  on  the  other  hand 
return,  that  in  piece-work,  even  the  utmost  speed  does  not 
assure  them  of  their  wages,  since  the  piece-work  price  is  often 
cut  when  the  rapid  workers  are  thought  to  be  earning  too  much 
in  one  day.  The  rate  per  piece  is  lowered.  Then  the  same 
speed  is  required  to  earn  the  lower  wages."' 

"Another  hardship  in  piece-work  of  which  the  workers  justly 
complain  and  which  adds  greatly  to  the  nervous  tax  of  any  oc- 
cupation is  due  to  the  extraordinarily  rapid  changes  of  fashion." 

"Thus,  though  the  piece-work  system  is  sound  in  theory 
and  works  admirably  in  highly  organized  trades  where  collect- 
ive agreements  assure  the  workers  fair,  fixed  rates,  it  fails 
among  the  most  helpless  workers  who  most  need  to  be  protected 
from  over-pressure  and  the  inroads  of  fatigue.  With  them  it 
almost  inevitably  breeds  a  spirit  of  permanent  'rush'  in  work, 
and  to  that  extent,  it  is  physiologically  dangerous  :     'the  most 


82  State  of  Washington 


pernicious  thing  that  could  be  described  as  the  dynamic  effici- 
ency of  the  nervous  system,'  writes  a  physician  familiar  with  the 
effects  of  unregulated  piece-rates  among  garment  workers." 
—Chap.  Ill,  pp.  82-83. 

WAGES    DETERMINED     BY      EFFICI ENCY— MINI  MU  M      NOT     THE 

MAXIMUM. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  if  a  minimum  wage  is  established 
it  will  tend  to  become  the  maximum  and  that  the  present  high 
salaried  workers  will  suffer  an  injustice  to  the  benefit  of  the 
poorer  workers.  The  establishment  of  a  minimum  wage  will 
mean  the  setting  of  a  new  and  better  standard  for  the  least 
efficient,  which  standard  will  automatically  raise  the  value  of  each 
more  competent  group.  Highly  skilled  workers  are  always  in 
demand  in  any  well  conducted  trade.  When  wages  are  deter- 
mined by  efficiency,  competition  will  arise  for  the  most  efficient 
workers,  and  thus  the  minimum  will  be  prevented  from  becoming 
the  maximum. 

Another  reason  which  will  prevent  the  payment  of  the  low- 
est wages  by  saving  on  the  highest  will  be  the  increase  in  the 
efficiency  of  the  employers.  Keen  employes  who  attend  to  the 
business  end  of  establishments  say  that  often  much  money  is 
spent  in  expensive,  unnecessary  office  equipment,  by  dishonest 
traveling-men  whose  expenses  are  not  checked  up,  in  useless  ad- 
vertising and  in  many  other  ways.  If  these  leaks  were  stopped 
and  the  money  applied  to  wages,  both  the  employes  and  the  firm 
would  be  much  better  off. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  problem  has  so  worked  itself  out 
and  the  minimum  wage  has  not  become  the  maximum  in  other 
countries  which  have  had  minimum  wage  boards  for  a  number  of 
years.  We  quote  here  from  the  annual  report  of  the  New  Zea- 
land labor  department,  1902: 

"It  was  asserted  that  when  the  court  fixed  a  minimum  wage 
in  a  trade,  that  wage  tended  to  become  an  average  wage  or  even 
a  maximum.  Such  a  system  would  scarcely  be  possible  in  a 
large  business,  or  even  in  a  go-ahead  small  one,  for  a  capable 
workman  knows  his  own  value  too  well  to  work  under  such  con- 
ditions, and  if  an  employer  wants  to  keep  up  with  or  to  surpass 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  83 

his  competitors  he  must  get  the  most  efficient  hands  he  can 
find  or  pay  for.  It  is  true,  however,  that  when  a  workman 
leaves  his  old  employer  and  gets  new  work,  he  often  has  to  start 
on  a  minimum  wage,  but  if  he  is  a  valuable  man  he  does  not  long 
remain  at  that  rate.  In  practice,  however,  it  is  found  that  the 
best  men  leave  the  minimum  wage  far  behind,  and  there  has 
been  no  proof  presented  that  during  the  last  two  or  three  years 
— during  which  most  of  the  awards  have  been  made — any  suffer- 
ing has  been  caused  by  the  institution  of  a  minimum  wage, 
while  the  benefit  to  the  majority  of  workers  is  indisputable." 
(Page  5.) 

Victor  S.  Clarke  says  in  U.  S.  Labor  Bulletin  No.  56  on  the 
Labor  Conditions  in  Australia :  "The  manager  of  a  boot  fac- 
tory in  the  same  state  said :  'We  don't  hold  our  men  down  to 
the  minimum  wage.  Our  cheapest  men  are  those  to  whom  I 
give  the  most  money.  I  make  the  foreman  of  each  room  judge 
of  his  employees,  and  he  must  make  his  room  pay — and  pay 
wages  that  will  produce  that  result.'  :'  (Pages  122-123.) 

Later  in  the  same  bulletin  Mr.  Clarke  quotes  a  proprietor 
who  has  worked  under  the  minimum  wage  laws,  to  the  effect 
that  the  enforcement  of  the  law  has  been  a  benefit  to  compet- 
ing employers. 

"The  proprietor  of  probably  the  largest  boot  factory  in 
Melbourne,  a  new  and  model  establishment,  expressed  the  fol- 
lowing opinion  of  the  Factories  Act  in  an  interview :  'We  have 
invested  largely  in  our  business  since  the  act  has  been  in  force. 
Under  it,  our  conditions  are  more  settled,  and  this  gives  us  an 
advantage  over  New  South  Wales.  Before  the  act  went  into 
operation  sweating  was  rampant,  and  for  that  reason  the  fair 
employer  has  benefited  by  the  change.  We  pay  many  of  our 
employes  more  than  the  minimum  wage.  There  are  incompe- 
tent employers  as  well  as  incompetent  employes,  and  it  is  the 
employer  who  never  ought  to  be  in  his  position  who  is  forced 
to  sweat  men.  The  act  eliminates  that  sort  of  an  employer.' 
(Page  73.) 

CONJUGAL   CONDITIONS. 

Another  fact  which  has  some  influence  on  the  standard  of 
wages   is   the   number   of   married   women   whose   husbands   are 


81 


State  of  Washington 


supporting  them,  who  themselves  are  wage-earners.  Table 
XXXI,  showing  the  per  cent  of  women  workers  by  industries 
and  classified  as  to  whether  they  are  married  or  unmarried  in- 
dicates that  in  manufacturing  industries  twelve  per  cent  of  the 
workers  are  married,  thirteen  per  cent  in  mercantile  stores, 
while  in  office  and  telephone  work  this  per  cent  is  almost 
negligible.  In  laundry  work,  however,  married  women  figure 
largely;  thirty-three  per  cent  here  fall  into  this  class.  This 
greater  number  in  laundry  work  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  fact 
that  certain  departments  have  half-week  or  short-hour  work 
which  permits  a  woman  to  keep  up  her  house  and  earn  outside 
at  the  same  time.  As  married  women  with  husbands  do  not,  in 
the  majority  of  cases,  have  to  be  the  wage-earners,  we  find  them 
willing  to  work  for  less  than  the  woman  who  is  entirely  depend- 
ent upon  herself.  The  small  per  cent  of  "married"  in  tele- 
phone work  may  be  ascribed  to  the  fact  that  young  girls  are 
required  for  the  success  of  the  service  and  that  twenty-five 
years  is  the  age  limit  at  which  girls  are  taken  on  to  be  taught 

the  work. 

Table  XXXI. 

SCHEDULE   SHOWING   CONJUGAL   CONDITION    OF  2,688   FEMALE 
EMPLOYES  IN  WASHINGTON   CLASSIFIED   BY   INDUSTRIES. 


Occupation 

No.  of 
employes 

Unmar- 
ried * 

No. 
Married 

Per  Cent. 
Married 

Laundry    

591 
524 
1,246 
115 
190 

515 
350 
1,078 
111 
189 

76 

174 

168 

4 

1 

12.9 
33.2 

Mercantile    

13.5 

Office    

3.5 

Telephone 

0.5 

2,666 

2,243 

423 

16.1 

*  "Unmarried"  includes  widows  and  divorcees. 

The  term  "married"  here  includes  only  those  women  who  are 
living  with  their  husbands.  If  widows,  deserted  wives  and  di- 
vorcees had  been  classed  here  instead  of  with  "single  women" 
the  per  cent  of  "married"  women  wage-earners  would  have  been 
much  larger. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


85 


Table  XXXII. 

SHOWING   CONJUGAL   CONDITION    OF  2,688    FEMALE    EMPLOYES 
IN    FIVE  CITIES  ARRANGED   ACCORDING  TO    POPULATION. 

Per  Cent. 
City.  Married. 

Everett   9.6 

Bellingham     11.9 

Tacoma  11.9 

Spokane    18.2 

Seattle     26.1 

Total 16.1 

Table  XXXII  shows  the  conjugal  condition  of  women  em- 
ployes in  the  five  largest  cities  of  the  state.  We  note  that  as 
the  population  increases  the  per  cent  of  those  married  and 
earning  increases  also. 

RESIDENCE  AT  HOME  AND  ADRIFT. 

Among  several  causes  that  tend  to  keep  the  single  and 
younger  woman's  wages  below  a  standard  of  decent  living,  one 
stands  out  prominently.  This  is  is  the  idea,  prevalent  with  em- 
ployers, that  the  majority  of  young  women  live  at  home  and 
work  for  pleasure  or  merely  for  pin-money.  Tables  XXXIII 
to  XXXV  inclusive  throw  light  on  the  questions  of  the  number 
of  girls  who  are  supporting  themselves  away  from  home  and  at 
home  and  on  what  wages  they  are  doing  it.  For  the  purpose 
of  conciseness  all  girls  who  reported  that  they  were  rooming  in 
single  rooms,  rooming  and  boarding,  or  doing  their  own  house- 
keeping are  classified  as  "Adrift." 

Table  XXXIII. 


SHOWING    RESIDENCE    OF    2.728    FEMALE    EMPLOYES    IN    FIVE 

CITIES  ARRANGED  ACCORDING  TO  POPULATION  AND 

CLASSIFIED  AS  AT   HOME  AND  ADRIFT. 

Per  Cent.  Per  Cent. 

City.                                   At  Home.  Adrift. 

Everett    80.3  19.7 

Bellingham     68.4  31.6 

Tacoma   69.2  30.8 

Spokane    56.1  43.9 

Seattle     54.4  45.6 

Totals 63.3  36.7 


86 


State  of  Washington 


Table  XXXIII  shows  the  distribution  of  2,728  women 
wage-earners  in  the  five  largest  cities  of  the  state  who  reported 
on  their  residence  at  home  or  away  from  home.  In  Seattle, 
nearly  one  half  of  the  wage  earning  women,  45.6  per  cent  are 
adrift.  Spokane  next  in  size  has  43.9  per  cent.  Everett,  the 
smallest  of  the  five  has  less  than  one-fifth  living  away  from  home. 
As  table  XXXII  showed  that  the  number  of  married  women  in- 
crease in  the  cities  as  the  cities  increase  in  size,  so  do  we  find 
the  number  of  girls  adrift  increasing  in  large  cities. 


Table  XXXIV. 

SHOWING  RESIDENCE  OF  2,705  FEMALE   EMPLOYES  CLASSIFIED 
BY   INDUSTRIES,  SHOWING   NUMBER  AND   PER  CENT. 
AT    HOME   AND    ADRIFT. 


INDUSTRY 

AT  HOME 

ADRIFT 

Totals 

No. 

% 

No. 

% 

Factory     

Laundry    

Mercantile    

436 
204 
831 
85 
162 

74. 

38.3 

65.4 

70.2 

83.9 

153 

328 

439 

36 

31 

26. 

61.7 

34.6 

29.8 

16.1 

589 

532 

1,270 

121 

Office  

Telephone    

193 

Totals 

1,718 

63. 

987 

36.5 

2,705 

Table  XXXIV  shows  the  ratios  of  girls  at  home  and  adrift 
by  industries.  Laundry  work  has  the  largest  per  cent  of  women 
away  from  home;  61.7  per  cent.  Mercantile  stores  stand  sec- 
ond, but  with  a  much  lower  number.  Factories  rank  third  in 
the  three  industries  under  consideration,  with  slightly  more  than 
one-fourth  of  their  women  workers  adrift.  In  no  one  of  the 
five  lines  of  work  described  is  the  per  cent,  small.  Telephone 
work,  which  has  the  fewest  numbers  still  has  one-sixth  of  its 
girls  adrift.  The  significant  fact  is  that  laundry  work  is  the 
one  division  here  in  which  a  large  number  of  workers  may  not 
be  classed  as  "girls." 

Eighteen  is  the  age  at  which  girlhood  or  minority  ends,  in 
this  report,  but  a  girl  of  eighteen  in  spite  of  her  majority,  is 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


87 


young  to  be  thrown  on  her  own  resources,  alone  in  a  large  city. 
Twenty-five  years  is  nearer  an  age  at  which  she  may  be  expected 
to  "fight  her  own  battles"  wisely  and  without  loss  of  heart. 

PIN   MONEY  THEORY. 

Table  XXXV. 

SHOWING   WEEKLY   WAGES  OF  3,058   GIRLS   CLASSIFIED   AS   AT 

HOME   AND   ADRIFT. 


I 
Totals 

%  of  Totals 

Un- 

$6 

$8 

$10 

Total 

der 

to 

to 

or 

un- 

Un- 

$10 

$6 

$7.95 

$9.95 

over 

der 
$10 

No. 

% 
56.1 

der 

$10 

or 
over 

At    Home. 

264 

551 

439 

462 

1,254 

1,716 

67.9 

38. 

Adrift 

78 

206 

305 

753 

589 

1,342 

43.8 

31.9 

61.9 

Totals. 

1,215 

1,843 

3,058 

Table  XXXV  has  a  volume  of  interest  within  it.  This 
table  gives  the  wages  of  3,058  girls,  classified  as  At  Home 
and  Adrift.  Of  these  fifty-six  per  cent  are  living  at  home  and 
4<2.8  per  cent  are  adrift.  1,843  of  the  girls  are  receiving  under 
$10  a  week  and  1,215  are  receiving  over.  $10.  Of  the  1,813 
under  $10,  over  two-thirds,  68  per  cent.,  are  living  at  home  and 
nearly  one-third,  32  per  cent,  are  adrift.  Of  the  1,215  earning 
$10  or  over,  one-third,  38  per  cent.,  live  at,  home,  and  less  than 
two-thirds,  62  per  cent,  are  adrift.  Of  the  1,716  employes  liv- 
ing at  home,  1,112,  or  66A  per  cent,  reported  that  they  con- 
tribute a  definite  amount  of  their  earnings  to  the  family  income. 
These  figures  would  seem  to  disprove  the  "pin-money"  theory. 

EFFECT    OF    UNDER    PAYMENT    ON    HEALTH    OF    WORKER. 

The  application  of  the  minimum  wage  law  to  the  problem  of 
the  girl  adrift  is  one  of  the  most  fundamental  goods  which  the 
law  will  accomplish.  Some  mention  of  the  effect  on  the  wages  of 
the  girl  adrift,  by  the  presence  of  the  girl  living  at  home  was 
made  in  the  section  on  the  cost  of  living.  It  is  an  undisputed 
fact  that  most  employers  openly  prefer  the  girl  who  is  living  at 


88  State  of  Washington 

home.  Their  theory  is  that  they  are  not  required  to  pay  a 
girl  with  a  home  as  large  a  wage  as  they  might  feel  obliged  to 
give  to  a  self-supporting  girl.  "Parasitic  industries,"  the  de- 
scription that  has  been  applied  to  them  before,  is  the  one  still 
most  applicable.  The  belief  that  a  woman  who  is  giving  her 
entire  time,  energy  and  experience  to  upbuilding  the  success  of 
an  establishment,  may  be  reimbursed  with  merely  enough  to  pay 
for  her  clothes  and  carfare  and  then  fall  back  upon  her  male 
relatives  for  cost  of  room  and  board  is  illogical  and  unjust.  But 
the  expectation  of  the  firm  to  profit  by  this  arrangement  often 
forces  on  the  girl  adrift  the  same  wage  which  the  girl  at  home 
accepts.  As  the  girl  adrift  must  produce  hard  cash  for  her 
room  and  board  and  clothes,  yet  cannot  obtain  the  comforts  for 
the  sum  at  her  disposal  which  the  girl  at  home  enjoys,  she  must 
retrench  some  place.  Each  week  finds  her  half  fed  and  the  week 
in  which  new  clothes  must  be  bought  finds  her  half  starving. 
The  eyes  of  one  girl  popped  at  the  mention  of  the  price  of  her 
dinner.  "I  scarcely  know  what  it  is  to  have  a  full  meal,"  she 
said.  "Once  in  a  while  a  girl  that  lives  at  home  invites  me  to  her 
house  and  occasionally  some  boys  rooming  near  here  agree  to  get 
the  provisions  if  my  room  mate  and  I  will  cook  them.  Then  we 
do  have  a  feed." 

Present  efficiency  depends  most  surely  upon  a  supply  of  food 
sufficient  to  keep  up  the  workers'  strength.  Future  efficiency 
as  a  mother  depends  upon  keeping  her  health  sound  now; — 
efficiency  not  only  to  bear  children,  but  to  raise  them.  We  can- 
not expect  a  race  of  healthy  nor  of  well  governed  children  if  the 
mothers-to-be  are  permitted  to  grow  aenemic  in  their  young 
womanhood. 

On  this  subject  we  quote  below  from  Elizabeth  B.  Butler's 
"Women  and  the  Trades,"  a  thorough  report  on  the  condition  of 
women's  work  in  Pittsburg.       (Page  34-9.) 

"For  social  strength  it  would  seem  that  the  question  ought  to 
be:  What  wage  must  a  girl  have  in  order  to  live  decently, 
maintain  sound  health,  and  have  reasonable  recreation?  For 
decency's  sake,  a  community  cannot  afford  to  permit  five  girls 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  89 


from  an  iron  mill  to  diminish  expenses  by  sharing  one  room  with 
five  men  from  the  same  work  place ;  neither  can  it  afford  to 
permit  a  girl  to  hire  board  and  a  couch  in  the  kitchen  of  a  crowd- 
ed tenement  flat  for  $3.00  a  week.  I  question  whether  it  can 
even  afford  the  dimming  of  bright  thoughts,  the  effacing  of 
individuality,  that  tend  to  follow  occupancy  of  one  bed  in  the 
dormitory  row  of  a  working  girl's  home." 

"For  health's  sake,  the  community  cannot  afford  to  permit 
its  girl  members  to  receive  a  wage  too  low  for  nutrition,  or  for 
the  refreshment  of  exhausted  strength.  It  reacts  ultimately  to 
the  harm  of  society  when  a  garment  worker  has  weak  coffee  for 
breakfast,  goes  without  lunch  altogether,  and  eats  two  or  three 
sandwiches  for  dinner,  as  her  habitual  diet.  She  may  keep  up 
through  her  working  life,  but  in  her  domestic  relations  she 
leaves  a  heritage  of  weakness  and  inefficiency.  We  are  all  the 
sufferers  when  a  shop  girl  continues  at  her  work  after  vitality 
has  ebbed  because  her  wages  are  too  low  to  permit  treatment  or 
rest."     (Page  349.) 

EFFECT  OF  UNDER  PAYMENT  ON  THE  NEXT  GENERATION. 

B.  S.  Rowntree  in  "Poverty— A  Study  of  Town  Life" 
(Pages  135-136)  graphically  portrays  the  effect  of  under- 
nourishment of  the  mothers-to-be  in  our  day  on  the  coming 
generation. 

"Low  wages  mean  insufficient  food,  insufficient  food  unfit- 
ness for  labor,  so  that  the  vicious  circle  is  complete.  The  chil- 
dren of  such  parents  have  to  share  their  privations,  and  even  if 
healthy  when  born,  the  lack  of  sufficient  food  soon  tells  upon 
them.  Thus  they  often  grow  up  weak  and  diseased,  and  so  tend 
to  perpetuate  the  race  of  the  'unfit.'  "     (Page  16.) 

"These  unseen  consequences  of  poverty  have,  however,  to  be 
reckoned  with — the  high  death-rate  among  the  poor,  the  ter- 
ribly high  infant  mortality,  the  stunted  stature  and  dulled  in- 
telligence— all  these  and  others  are  not  seen  unless  we  look  be- 
neath the  surface;  and  yet  all  are  having  their  effect  upon  the 
poor,  and  consequently  upon  the  whole  country."  (Pages  135- 
136.) 


90 


State  of  Washington 


EFFECT   OF    LOW    WAGES   ON    MORALS    OF   WOMEN    WORKERS. 

Another  phase  of  the  wage  question  which  must  not  be 
omitted  is  the  effect  of  the  application  of  the  law  on  the  morals 
of  women  workers.  No  well-informed  person  will  urge  that  the 
morals  of  a  self-supporting  woman  depend  directly  upon  her 
wage.  There  are  too  many  proofs  to  the  contrary.  This  is  true 
however,  that  slow  starvation  will  gradually  break  down  a 
woman's  power  of  resistence  and  her  fall  results  not  because  at 
the  particular  moment  she  wants  a  square  meal.  It  is  more 
likely  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  constant  cravings  of  hunger 
have  weakened  her  physical  condition,  her  mental  poise  and  her 
outlook  on  life.  If  the  state  of  hunger  were  not  accompanied 
with  chill  of  body  and  cheerless  surroundings,  her  defeat  might 
not  be  so  complete.  But  this  is  an  equally  important  fact,  that 
once  having  entered  upon  a  life  of  degradation  and  having  en- 
joyed again  the  comfort  of  pleasant  shelter  and  plenty  of 
nourishing  food,  the  inadequate  wage  she  has  left  and  the  im- 
possibility of  receiving  a  higher  one  is  the  effectual  bar  which 
keeps  her  from  returning  to  a  moral  life. 


MINORS  AND  ADULTS. 

Table  XXXVI. 
11,059  WOMEN  WORKERS  CLASSIFIED  AS   MINORS  AND  ADULTS. 


Minors 

Adults 

Total 

Per  Cent. 
Minors 

Mercantile    

611 
64 

149 
19 

576 

4,544 
104 

2,155 
402 

2,435 

5.155 
168 

2,304 
421 

3,011 

11 .7 

5   and   10c.   Store 

Laundry     

38.0 
6.4 

Office    

4.5 

Factory    

19.1 

Totals 

1,419 

9,640 

11,059 

12.8 

Section  14  of  the  law  which  gives  power  to  the  Commission 
at  any  time  to  "inquire  into  wages  and  conditions  of  labor  of 
minors,  employed  in  any  occupation  and  to  determine  wages  and 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  91 

conditions  of  labor  suitable  for  such  minors,"  is  based  on  the 
theory  that  a  minor  is  one  who  is  still  under  the  care  of  her 
parents  and  as  such  should  not  be  expected  to  be  self-support- 
ing. The  Child  Labor  law,  however,  authorizes  the  employ- 
ment of  children  over  sixteen  years  of  age  without  special  per- 
mit. Children  between  sixteen  and  eighteen  years  then  may  as- 
sist in  the  support  of  the  family,  but  by  very  reason  of  the  fact 
that  they  are  not  experienced,  they  are  not  expected  to  have 
knowledge  requisite  to  demand  a  subsisting  wage,  nor  are  they 
expected  because  of  their  physical  immaturity  to  have  the 
strength  required  for  the  day's  work  of  an  adult  person.  Yet 
we  do  find  (Table  XXXVI),  a  large  number  of  minors  working 
side  by  side  with  adults  in  similar  occupations  and  accomplish- 
ing frequently  as  heavy  a  day's  work.  Out  of  11,059  workers, 
1,419,  or  12.8  per  cent,  were  minors.  On  account  of  their 
youth  and  inability  to  bargain,  they  are  frequently  paid  wages 
which  far  from  compensate  them  for  the  hours  and  labor  spent 
on  their  work. 

Table  XXXVI  classifies  11,059  female  employes  in  four  in- 
dustries as  to  whether  they  are  minors  or  adults  and  the  per 
cent  of  minors  in  each  industry.  Though  the  5,  10  and  15 
cent  stores  are  not  an  industry  separate  from  mercantile  stores, 
they  are  registered  separately  because  of  the  big  per  cent,  of 
minors  employed,  which  is  thirty-eight  per  cent  here.  Nearly 
one-fifth  of  the  employes  in  factories  are  minors,  and  slightly 
more  than  one-tenth  of  the  remaining  mercantile  store  em- 
ployes. 

There  are  other  reasons  for  urging  a  reasonable  minimum 
wage  for  minors.  One  is  that  in  the  very  beginning  of  their 
industrial  life  a  certain  standard  of  efficiency  will  be  set  for  them. 
The  minimum  wage  may  result  in  keeping  some  of  the  less  alert 
or  duller  ones  in  school  longer,  but  if  this  means  better  prepar- 
ation for  later  work  it  cannot  be  counted  a  disaster.  Much  of 
the  work  to  which  minors  are  put  is  unskilled.  As  fresh  re- 
cruits swell  the  ranks  constantly,  their  labor  may  be  had  for  the 


92  State  of  Washington 


price  of  a  song.  With  the  price  of  young  labor  so  low  and  the 
supply  large,  the  price  of  adult  labor  tends  to  decrease  also, 
so  that  in  states  where  child  labor  laws  are  wanting;  we  find 
parents  shoved  out  of  industry  and  the  burden  of  the  support 
of  the  family  falling  on  baby  shoulders  that  are  unable  to  bear 
it.  If  the  minimum  wage  for  minors  restricts  the  supply  of 
child  labor,  the  natural  supporters  of  the  family,  the  adult-*, 
will  resume  their  work  at  better  and  more  liberal  wages. 

LEARNERS   AND    EXPERIENCED   WORKERS. 

The  question  of  how  to  arrange  for  the  inexperienced  work- 
er is  one  to  which  a  variety  of  solutions  has  been  offered.  The 
law  (section  13)  permits  the  Commission  to  issue  to  an  ap- 
prentice in  such  class  of  employment  or  occupation  as  usually 
requires  to  be  learned  by  apprentices,  a  special  license  author- 
izing the  employment  of  such  licensee  at  less  than  the  legal  mini- 
mum wage;  and  the  Commission  shall  fix  the  minimum  wage  for 
said  person  *  *  *  and  such  license  for  apprentices  shall 
be  in  force  for  such  length  of  time  as  the  said  Commission  shall 
decide  and  determine  is  proper." 

Undoubtedly  there  are  a  number  of  lines  of  work  which  re- 
quire very  little  teaching  and  an  equally  small  amount  of  apt- 
itude on  the  part  of  the  worker.  Packing  chocolates  in  a 
candy  factory  for  the  wholesale  trade,  wrapping  carmels,  "all 
day  suckers"  and  other  cheap  hard  candies,  requires  no  con- 
centration whatever  to  learn.  A  worker  knows  how  after  the 
first  day,  and  the  ■"■apprentice''  period  might  be  said  to  end 
there;  but  one  essential  for  success  as  a  candy  wrapper  or 
packer  is  the  attainment  of  a  certain  degree  of  speed  which 
may  only  be  acquired  with  practice.  Shaking  clothes  in  a 
laundry  is  absolutely  unskilled.  Lidding  boxes  in  a  paper  box 
factory,  stripping  tobacco  in  cigar  factories,  pulling  basting 
stitches  in  a  dressmaking  shop,  picking  over  fruit  in  canneries, 
combing  out  old  hair  combings  for  switches  are  all  classes  of 
work  which  require  in  some  cases  care,  in  others  speed,  but  in 
none  special  knowledge  of  any  kind. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  93 

In  the  same  industries  in  which  the  above  lines  of  work  are 
found  are  other  departments  in  which  much  care,  judgment,  ex- 
perience, personal  adaptability  and  professional  skill  are  re- 
quired to  make  a  worker  competent.  A  first  class  hand  ironer 
in  a  laundry  can  command  twenty-five  cents  an  hour  or  in  the 
better  class  hand  laundry  a  still  higher  wage.  To  roll  a  cigar 
properly  is  an  accomplishment  several  degrees  removed  from 
stripping  tobacco.  Designing,  cutting  and  fitting  gowns  may 
be  the  work  of  an  artist  to  whose  position  the  little  basting- 
thread  puller  may  aspire  but  will  never  attain.  So  an  artistic 
hairdresser  requires  much  keener  judgment,  greater  deftness 
and  daintiness,  and  appreciation  of  the  fine  points  of  facial 
contour  than  the  learner  who  might  handle  greasy  combings 
all  her  life,  but  yet  never  be  able  to  handle  a  strand  of  hair 
becomingly.  The  statement  frequently  made  that  anyone  can 
sell  goods  is  not  true.  The  principle  on  which  the  mercantile 
business  is  conducted  today  is  not  that  of  furnishing  people 
what  they  want,  but  of  persuading  them  to  buy  what  they 
don't  want.  The  clerk  who  can  do  this  is  the  one  whose  sales 
will  average  high.  And  to  do  it,  one  must  have  powers  of 
salesmanship  that  involve  something  more  than  merely  the 
ability  to  pass  a  parcel  across  the  counter.  Not  only  must  all 
of  the  good  points  of  the  article  exhibited  be  known,  but  the 
good  and  bad  points  of  rival  articles,  and  more  important  still, 
in  a  few  short  moments  the  customer  must  be  "sized  up,"  and 
the  best  method  of  winning  her  decided  upon.  Genuine  psycho- 
logical insight  is  required  in  a  first-class  saleswoman.  One 
year  is  required  in  certain  departments  before  an  inexper- 
ienced woman  is  expected  to  know  her  goods  thoroughly  and 
develop  the  art  which  we  have  described :  yet  some  depart- 
ments there  are  to  which  shoppers  come  because  they  need  the 
articles  and  do  not  have  to  be  pleased;  the  notion  department 
is  one  of  these  and  one  year  as  the  learner  here  is  unnecessary. 

MISFITS. 

Under  the  present  lack  of  arrangements  for  learners'  wages 
the  employers  statement  that  a  beginner  is  not  worth  $3  a  week 


94  State  of  Washington 


may  sometimes  be  true.  With  no  particular  degree  of  efficiency 
demanded  of  her  at  the  low  wage,  a  girl  or  woman  may  start  to 
learn  a  trade  for  which  she  has  no  particular  taste,  and  to  which 
she  is  not  adapted.  She  stays  on  because  it  is  the  easiest  thing 
to  do  or  in  the  case  of  the  younger  girl  because  her  mother  has 
put  her  there.  Her  employer  keeps  her  because  he  has  to  have 
unskilled  help  to  do  the  unskilled  work,  and  if  the  beginner 
never  makes  much  headway  it  is  easy  to  place  the  responsibility 
upon  the  beginner's  stupidity.  But  the  beginner  may  be  the 
square  peg  in  the  round  hole  who  would  do  excellent  work  in 
another  place. 

This  brings  us  to  the  question  of  trade  schools.  American 
citizens  realize  more  and  more  keenly  that  the  inefficiency  of  the 
unskilled  laborer,  the  problem  of  unemployment  and  poverty  is 
due  to  the  lack  of  preparation  of  workers,  to  their  inability  to 
carry  on  one  trade  well.  If  the  establishing  of  a  minimum  wage 
will  force  back  into  the  home  the  thousands  of  youths  and  girls 
who  start  out  to  earn  with  no  thought  of  at  what  they  will 
earn,  it  will  have  given  the  movement  for  more  vocational 
schools,  an  impetus  which  will  result  speedily  in  establish- 
ing them.  For  it  will  mean  that  the  young  wage  earners  to 
be  will  actually  be  taught  something,  which  is  contrary  to  the 
real  situation  in  many  of  the  large  shops  employing  them. 

For  not  all  employers,  but  many,  deceive  themselves,  the 
workers  and  the  public,  when  they  say  that  a  beginner  is  taught. 
In  the  first  place,  the  employers  admit  that  they  are  too  busy 
to  teach  "green"  help.  In  the  second  place  all  don't  know 
how  to  teach  and  in  the  third  place  when  they  find  that  a  learner 
is  an  adept  at  the  routine  work,  they  keep  her  at  that  for  their 
own  interests  for  months  at  a  time.  This  is  the  case  in  millinery 
and  dressmaking  shops.  A  girl  with  some  liking  for  the  sew- 
ing trade  learns  how  to  make  linings  well,  how  to  sew  on  hooks 
and  eyes  quickly.  What  the  girl  learns  then  about  the  trade 
depends  upon  how  much  she  can  pick  up  by  herself.  "Three 
years,"  some  dressmakers  say,  "are  necessary  before  a  girl  can 
earn  eight  dollars  a  week.*"     The  same  is  true  of  the  wholesale 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


95 


and  larger  retail  millinery  shops  where  an  apprentice  may 
spend  one  season  making  bandeaus  and  another  season  doing  a 
similar  kind  of  work;  at  the  end  of  four  seasons  or  a  year  she 
is  declared  through  her  apprenticeship  but  not  worth  one  dollar 
a  day.  The  complaint  is  made  by  the  manager  that  trade 
schools  are  not  practical  in  their  instructions,  do  not  teach 
pupils  to  be  swift,  but  instead  to  be  so  careful  that  they  are 
slow.  The  latter  characteristic  it  would  seem  might  be  con- 
sidered a  point  in  favor  of  the  vocational  schools  as  against  a 
possible  reputation  for  speediness  which  could  develop  into 
shiftlessness. 

SUMMARY. 

Table  XXXVII. 

WAGE    SCHEDULE    OF   5,336    ADULT    WOMEN    WORKERS    CLASSI- 
FIED BY  LENGTH  OF  SERVICE  IN   PRESENT  EMPLOYMENT. 


Time   Employed 

Receiving  Less  Than 

Receiving  More  Than 

$9  a  week 

• 
$10  a  week 

$9  a  week 

$10  a  week 

Less  than  1   year 

More  than  1  year 

1,044 
475 

1,140 
681 

342 
827 

246 
581 

Table  XXXVII  shows  the  present  proportion  of  5,336 
workers  who  have  worked  less  or  more  than  one  year  and  the 
wage  each  group  is  receiving.  Out  of  2,772  working  less  than 
one  year,  only  34-2  were  receiving  between  $9  and  $10  a  week. 
1,04-4  were  receiving  less  than  $9  a  week.  Of  2,564  working- 
more  than  one  year,  475  were  receiving  less  than  $9  and  681 
less  than  $10  a  week.  For  purposes  of  illustration,  one  year  is 
mentioned  here  as  the  period  necessary  before  a  girl  adopting  a 
line  of  work  of  which  she  is  ignorant,  may  be  called  "experienced" 
in  it. 


96 


State  of  Washington 


Table  XXXVIII. 

EFFECT  OF  A   HYPOTHETICAL  LEGAL   MINIMUM  ON   WAGES  OF 
"EXPERIENCED"  WOMEN   WORKERS. 


Average 

Legal 

Number 

Present 

Total 

Total 

increase 

minimum 

directly 

total 

required 

increase 

of  weekly 

wage 

affected 

weekly 

by  legal 

in  weekly 

wage  of 

payroll 

minimum 

payroll 

individual 
employe 

$9.00  a  week 

475 

$3,632.00 

$4,275.00 

$643.00 

$1.35 

$10.00  a  week 

681 

5,589.00 

6,810.00 

1,221.00 

1.81 

Table  XXXVIII  shows  the  result  of  establishing  $9  a 
week  as  a  minimum  wage  for  girls  with  one  year's  experience. 
The  present  weekly  payroll  for  the  475  girls  is  $3,632.00.  If 
these  475  were  raised  to  $9  a  week,  the  total  payroll  would  be 
$4,275  or  an  increase  of  $643  a  week,  an  increase  on  an  average 
of  $1.35  for  each  employe.  The  total  number  in  this  table  re- 
ceiving under  $10  is  681  with  a  weekly  payroll  of  $5,589.  If 
these  681  were  raised  to  $10  a  week  it  would  mean  an  increase 
in  the  payroll  to  $6,810  a  week  or  an  additional  cost  of  $1,221 
or  an  average  of  $1.81  per  employe. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  97 


REGULATIONS  OF  COMMISSION  GOVERN- 
ING PROCEDURE  OF  CONFERENCES. 


The  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  for  the  State  of  Wash- 
ington, duly  appointed  and  qualified  as  provided  by  Chapter 
174  of  the  Session  Laws  of  1913  of  the  said  State  of  Wash- 
ington, having  heretofore  made  investigation  as  provided  by 
law,  concerning  the  employment  of  women  and  minors  in  the 
mercantile  industry,  the  wages  paid  said  women  and  minors, 
and  the  conditions  surrounding  their  work  and  employment  in 
said  industry,  and  being  fully  advised  in  the  premises,  finds  as 
follows : 

That  in  the  said  mercantile  industry,  within  the  State  of 
Washington  the  wages  paid  to  female  employees  in  said  in- 
dustry are  inadequate  to  supply  them  necessary  cost  of  living 
and  to  maintain  the  workers  therein  in  health,  and  that  the 
conditions  of  labor  therein  are  prejudicial  to  the  health  and 
morals  of  the  workers : 

Therefore,  by  virtue  of  the  authority  conferred  upon  this 
commission  by  law  and  in  pursuance  thereof,  it  is  hereby  ordered 
that  a  conference  be  called  for  the  consideration  of  wages  paid 
and  conditions  of  labor  in  said  mercantile  industry,  said  con- 
ference to  be  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  representatives  of 
employers  and  employees  in  said  industry,  together  with  an 
equal  number  of  disinterested  persons  representing  the  public 
as  hereinafter  provided,  the  date  of  the  first  convention  of  said 
conference  to  be  fixed  by  this  commission  after  the  representa- 
tives of  said  conference  have  been  duly  selected  as  hereinafter 
provided. 

The  term  "commission"  shall  mean  the  Industrial  Welfare 
Commission  of  the  State  of  Washington. 

It  is  hereby  further  ordered  that  the  following  rules  and 
regulations  be  and  the  same  are  hereby  adopted  as  the  rules 
and  regulations  governing  the  selection  of  representatives  and 
the  mode  of  procedure  of  said  conference. 


98  State  of  Washington 

1.  A  conference  shall  consist  of  nine  persons  and  a  member 
of  the  commission  who  shall  be  chairman  of  said  conference, 
three  to  represent  the  employers,  three  to  represent  the  em- 
ployees, and  three  to  represent  the  public.  One  of  the  members 
representing  the  public  shall  be  appointed  by  the  chairman  as 
chief  interrogator.  A  member  of  the  commission  shall  act  as 
chairman  of  the  conference. 

2.  The  method  of  selecting  members  of  the  conference  shall 
be  as  follows: 

Each  member  of  the  commission  shall  nominate  and  send 
nine  names  to  the  secretary  thereof:  Three  of  these  shall  be 
employers  in  the  industry  for  winch  the  conference  is  being 
called ;  three  shall  be  employees  in  said  industry,  and  three  shall 
be  disinterested  persons  to  represent  the  public.  The  secretary  in 
turn  shall  then  send  a  complete  list  to  each  member  of  the  com- 
mission for  his  or  her  investigation,  a  period  of  at  least  one  week 
being  allowed  for  that  purpose,  after  which  the  commission, 
sitting  in  regular  session  or  any  special  session  of  the  commis- 
sion called  for  said  purpose,  shall  select  from  among  these 
names  nine  persons  who  shall  constitute  the  conference,  of 
whom  at  least  one  employer  and  one  employee  shall  be  from  that 
portion  of  the  state  east  of  the  summit  of  the  Cascade  moun- 
tains. 

3.  After  the  selection  of  the  members  of  the  conference  in 
each  industry  as  provided  in  the  foregoing  section,  the  com- 
mission shall,  from  the  names  remaining,  select  nine  alternates 
who  shall  have  the  same  qualifications  for  membership  on  the 
conference  as  the  regularly  selected  members  ;  these  alternates 
to  fill  any  vacancies  that  may  occur,  according  to  a  definite 
priority  to  be  determined  by  the  commission  at  the  time  of  their 
selection. 

4.  A  conference  thus  selected  may  upon  request  by  the 
commission  be  called  together  at  any  time  and  place  that  the 
commission  may  designate,  provided,  that  each  member  of  said 
conference  shall  be  given  at  least  ten  days'  notice  of  such 
meeting  and  at  the  time  of  serving  such  notice  shall  be  pro- 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  99 


vided  with  a  copy  of  the  report  of  the  findings  of  the  commis- 
sion in  its  investigation  of  the  wages  and  conditions  of  labor 
of  women  and  minors  in  the  trade  or  industry  for  which  the 
conference  is  called,  and  shall  serve  until  discharged  by  the 
commission. 

5.  When  the  conference  is  called  to  order  by  the  chairman, 
it  shall  deliberate  under  parliamentary  law  and  no  question 
shall  be  discussed  that  is  not  germane  to  the  conditions  of  labor 
or  cost  of  living  of  working  women  or  minors  as  applied  to  that 
particular  trade  or  industry.  Roberts'  Rules  of  Order  shall 
govern. 

6.  The  Commission  may  at  its  discretion  fill  any  vacancies 
that  may  occur  in  its  conferences. 

7.  The  conference  in  its  deliberations  shall  proceed  on  the 
principle  established  by  the  commission  that  a  minimum  wage 
or  condition  of  labor  of  women  and  minors  shall  be  general 
throughout  the  state  as  to  the  particular  trade  or  industry 
affected  wherever  same  shall  be  established. 

8.  The  chair  shall  not  permit  the  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion as  a  whole  until  after  each  item  of  the  cost  of  living  has 
been  taken  up  in  the  order  given  in  the  estimate  blanks  prepared 
by  the  commission,  unless  otherwise  directed  by  a  majority 
vote  of  the  conference.  After  proper  deliberation  and  discus- 
sion of  questions  that  have  been  presented  to  the  conference  by 
the  commission,  the  conference  shall  then,  upon  request  of  the 
commission,  proceed  to  make  recommendations  upon  such  ques- 
tions as  the  commission  may  designate. 

9.  The  members  of  the  conference  so  selected  shall  be  paid 
their  actual  traveling  and  hotel  expenses  while  attending  said 
conference  (out  of  the  regular  appropriation  set  aside  by  the 
legislature)  provided  that  evidence  of  such  expense  be  filed 
with  the  commission  and  sworn  to  in  the  manner  provided  by 
law,  and  it  is  further  provided  that  before  being  allowed,  said 
expenses  are  to  be  approved  by  the  commission. 

10.  The  secretary  of  the  commission  or  a  shorthand  re- 
porter shall  be  present  at  each  conference  and  shall  record  the 


100 


State  of  Washington 


minutes  of  the  meetings,  and  shall  be  ex-ofpcio  secretary  of  said 
conference. 

11.  No  member  of  the  conference  shall  be  entitled  to  speak 
more  than  twice  on  any  subject,  or  more  than  five  minutes  at  a 
time,  except  by  unanimous  consent  of  the  conference. 

12.  The  Commission  may  amend,  modify  or  suspend,  by  a 
two-thirds  vote,  any  of  the  foregoing  rules  or  regulations. 

INDUSTRIAL  WELFARE   COMMISSION 

OF  THE  STATE  OF  WASHINGTON. 

Dated  at  Olympia,  Washington,  this  10th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1914. 

EDWARD  W.  OLSON,  Chairman. 
MRS.  W.  H.  UDALL. 
MRS.  FLORENCE  H.  SWANSON. 
MRS.  JACKSON  SILBAUGH. 
M.   H.   MARVIN. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  l(5l 


MINIMUM  WAGES  FOR  WOMEN. 


CHAPTER  174. 

An  Act  to  protect  the  lives,  health,  morals  of  women  and  minor 
workers,  establishing  an  industrial  welfare  commission  for  women 
and  minors,  prescribing  its  powers  and  duties,  and  providing  for 
the  fixing  of  minimum  wages  and  the  standard  condition  of  labor 
for  such  workers  and  providing  penalties  for  violation  of  the  same, 
and  making  an  appropriation  therefor. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Washington : 

The  welfare  of  the  State  of  Washington  demands  that  women 
and  minors  be  protected  from  conditions  of  labor  which  have  a 
pernicious  effect  on  their  health  and  morals.  The  State  of 
Washington,  therefore,  exercising  herein  its  police  and  sovereign 
power  declares  that  inadequate  wages  and  unsanitary  conditions 
of  labor  exert  such  pernicious  effect. 

Sec.  2.     Prohibiting    Employment   Under  Certain    Conditions. 

It  shall  be  unlawful  to  employ  women  or  minors  in  any  indus- 
try or  occupation  within  the  State  of  Washington  under  condi- 
tions of  labor  detrimental  to  their  health  or  morals ;  and  it  shall 
be  unlawful  to  employ  women  workers  in  any  industry  within  the 
State  of  Washington  at  wages  which  are  not  adequate  for  their 
maintenance. 

Sec.  3.     Establish   Standards  of  Wages. 

There  is  hereby  created  a  commission  to  be  known  as  the 
"Industrial  Welfare  Commission"  for  the  State  of  Washington, 
to  establish  such  standards  of  wages  and  conditions  of  labor  for 
women  and  minors  employed  within  the  State  of  Washington,  as 
shall  be  held  hereunder  to  be  reasonable  and  not  detrimental  to 
health  and  morals,  and  which  shall  be  sufficient  for  the  decent 
maintenance  of  women. 

Sec.  4.     Appointment    of   Commission — Commissioner   of    Labor   to    Be 
Ex-Officio  Member. 

Said  commission  shall  be  composed  of  five  persons,  four  of 
whom  shall  be  appointed  by  the  governor,  as  follows :    The  first 


102  State  of  Washington 

appointments  shall  be  made  within  thirty  (30)  days  after  this 
act  takes  effect;  one  for  the  term  ending  January  1st,  1914; 
one  for  the  term  ending  January  1st,  1915;  one  for  the  term 
ending  January  1st,  1916;  and  one  for  the  term  ending  Janu- 
ary 1st,  1917 :  Provided,  however,  That  at  the  expiration  of 
their  respective  terms,  their  successors  shall  be  appointed  by  the 
governor  to  serve  a  full  term  of  four  years.  No  person  shall  be 
eligible  to  appointment  as  commissioner  hereunder  who  is,  or 
shall  have  been  at  any  time  within  five  years  prior  to  the  date  of 
such  appointment-  a  member  of  any  manufacturers'  or  employers' 
association  or  of  any  labor  union.  The  governor  shall  have  the 
power  of  removal  for  cause.  Any  vacancies  shall  be  filled  by  the 
governor  for  the  unexpired  portion  of  the  term  in  which  the 
vacancy  shall  occur.  The  Commissioner  of  Labor  of  the  State 
of  Washington  shall  be  ex-officio  member  of  the  commission. 
Three  members  of  the  commission  shall  constitute  a  quorum  at  all 
regular  meetings  and  public  hearings. 

Sec.  5.     Commission    to    Serve    Without    Compensation — Secretary    Al- 
lowed  Salary. 

The  members  of  said  commission  shall  draw  no  salaries.  The 
commission  may  employ  a  secretary,  whose  salary  shall  be 
paid  out  of  the  moneys  hereinafter  appropriated.  All  claims  for 
expenses  incurred  by  the  commission  shall,  after  approval  by 
the  commission,  be  passed  to  the  state  auditor  for  audit  and 
payment. 

Sec.  6.     Duties  of  Commission. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  commission  to  ascertain  the  wages 
and  conditions  of  labor  of  women  and  minors  in  the  various 
occupations,  trades  and  industries  in  which  said  women  and 
minors  are  employed  in  the  State  of  Washington.  To  this  end, 
said  commission  shall  have  full  power  and  authority  to  call  for 
statements  and  to  examine,  either  through  its  members  or  other 
authorized  representatives,  all  books,  pay  rolls  or  other  records 
of  all  persons,  firms  and  corporations  employing  females  or 
minors  as  to  any  matters  that  would  have  a  bearing  upon  the 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  103 

question  of  wages  of  labor  or  conditions  of  labor  of  said  em- 
ployes. 

Sec.  7.     Employers  to  Keep  Records. 

Every  employer  of  women  and  minors  shall  keep  a  record  of 
the  names  of  all  women  and  minors  employed  by  him,  and  shall 
on  request  permit  the  commission  or  any  of  its  members  or 
authorized  representatives  to  inspect  such  record. 

Sec.  8.     Minor   Defined. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  act  a  minor  is  defined  to  be  a  person 
of  either  sex  under  the  age  of  eighteen  (18)  years. 

Sec.  9.     Public   Hearings — Power  to   Subpoena   Witnesses. 

The  commission  shall  specify  times  to  hold  public  hearings, 
at  which  times  employers,  employes  or  other  interested  persons 
may  appear  and  give  testimony  as  to  the  matter  under  con- 
sideration. The  commission  shall  have  power  to  subpoena  wit- 
nesses and  to  administer  oaths.  All  witnesses  subpoenaed  by  the 
commission  shall  be  paid  the  same  mileage  and  per  diem  allowed 
by  law  for  witnesses  before  the  superior  court  in  civil  cases. 

Sec.   10.     Commission    Empowered   to   Call    Conference   and    Determine 
Mode  of  Procedure. 

If,  after  investigation,  the  commission  shall  find  that  in  any 
occupation,  trade  or  industry,  the  wages  paid  to  female  employes 
are  inadequate  to  supply  them  necessary  cost  of  living  and  to 
maintain  the  workers  in  health,  or  that  the  conditions  of  labor 
are  prejudical  to  the  health  or  morals  of  the  workers,  the  com- 
mission is  empowered  to  call  a  conference  composed  of  an  equal 
number  of  representatives  of  employers  and  employes  in  the 
occupation  or  industry  in  question,  together  with  one  or  more 
disinterested  persons  representing  the  public ;  but  the  represent- 
atives of  the  public  shall  not  exceed  the  number  of  representa- 
tives of  either  of  the  other  parties  ;  and  a  member  of  the  com- 
mission shall  be  a  member  of  such  conference  and  chairman 
thereof.  The  commission  shall  make  rules  and  regulations  gov- 
erning the  selection  of  representatives  and  the  mode  of  proced- 
ure of  said  conference,  and  shall  exercise  exclusive  jurisdiction 


104  State  of  Washington 


over  all  questions  arising  as  to  the  validity  of  the  procedure 
and  of  the  recommendations  of  said  conference.  On  request  of 
the  commission,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  conference  to  recom- 
mend to  the  commission  an  estimate  of  the  minimum  wage  ade- 
quate in  the  occupation  or  industry  in  question  to  supply  the 
necessary  cost  of  living,  and  maintain  the  workers  in  health, 
and  to  recommend  standards  of  conditions  or  labor  demanded 
for  the  health  and  morals  of  the  employes.  The  findings  and 
recommendations  of  the  conference  shall  be  made  a  matter  of 
record  for  the  use  of  the  commission. 

Sec.  11.     Minimum  Wage  to  Be  Established. 

Upon  the  receipt  of  such  recommendations  from  a  conference, 
the  commission  shall  review  the  same  and  may  approve  any  or 
all  of  such  recommendations,  or  it  may  disapprove  any  or  all  of 
them  and  recommit  the  subject  or  the  recommendations  disap- 
proved of,  to  the  same  or  a  new  conference.    After  such  approval 
of  the  recommendations  of  a  conference  the  commission   shall 
issue  an  obligatory  order  to  be.  effective  in  sixty  (60)  days  from 
the  date  of  said  order,  or  if  the  commission  shall  find  that  unusual 
conditions  necessitate  a  longer  period,  then  it  shall  fix  a  later 
date,  specifying  the  minimum  wage  for  women  in  the  occupation 
affected,  and  the  standard  conditions  of  labor  for  said  women; 
and  after  such  order  is  effective,  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  em- 
ployer in  said  occupation  to  employ  women  over  eighteen  (18) 
years  of  age  for  less  than  the  rate  of  wages,  or  under  conditions 
of  labor  prohibited  for  women  in  the  said  occupation.     The  com- 
mission shall  send  by  mail  so  far  as  practicable  to  each  employer 
in  the  occupation  in  question  a  copy  of  the  order,  and  each  em- 
ployer shall  be  required  to  post  a  copy  of  said  order  in  each 
room  in  which  women  affected  by  the  order  are  employed.    When 
such  commission  shall  specify  a  minimum  wage  hereunder  the 
same  shall  not  be  changed  for  one  year  from  the  date  when  such 
minimum  wage  is  so  fixed. 
Sec.   12.     Conference  May  Be  Re-opened  by  Petition. 

Whenever  wages  or  standard  conditions  of  labor  have  been 
made  mandatory  in  any  occupation,  upon  petition  (if  either  em- 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  105 


ployers  or  employes  the  commission  may  at  its  discretion  re-open 
the  question  and  re-convene  the  former  conference  or  call  a  new 
one,  and  any  recommendations  made  by  such  conference  shall  be 
dealt  with  in  the  same  manner  as  the  original  recommendations 
of  a  conference. 

Sec.  13.     Special   License  for  Physical    Disability. 

For  any  occupation  in  which  a  minimum  rate  has  been  estab- 
lished, the  commission  through  its  secretary  may  issue  to  a 
woman  physically  defective  or  crippled  by  age  or  otherwise,  or 
to  an  apprentice  in  such  class  of  employment  or  occupation  as 
usually  requires  to  be  learned  by  apprentices,  a  special  license 
authorizing  the  employment  of  such  licensee  for  a  wage  less 
than  the  legal  minimum  wage ;  and  the  commission  shall  fix  the 
minimum  wage  for  said  person,  such  special  license  to  be  issued 
only  in  such  cases  as  the  commission  may  decide  the  same  is 
applied  for  in  good  faith  and  that  such  license  for  apprentices 
shall  be  in  force  for  such  length  of  time  as  the  said  commission 
shall  decide  and  determine  is  proper. 

Sec.   14.     Extraordinary  Power  of  Commission. 

The  commission  may  at  any  time  inquire  into  wages,  and 
conditions  of  labor  of  minors,  employed  in  any  occupation  in 
the  state  and  may  determine  wages  and  conditions  of  labor 
suitable  for  such  minors.  When  the  commission  has  made  such 
determination  in  the  cases  of  minors  it  may  proceed  to  issue 
an  obligatory  order  in  the  manner  provided  for  in  section  11 
of  this  act,  and  after  such  order  is  effective  it  shall  be  unlawful 
for  any  employer  in  said  occupation  to  employ  a  minor  for  less 
wages  than  are  specified  for  minors  in  said  occupation,  or  under 
conditions  of  labor  prohibited  by  the  commission  for  said  minors 
in  its  order. 

Sec.  15.     Statistics — How  Obtained. 

Upon  the  request  of  the  commission  the  Commissioner  of 
Labor  of  the  State  of  Washington  shall  furnish  to  the  com- 
mission such  statistics  as  the  commission  may  require. 


106  State  of  Washington 

Sec.  16.     Employer  Subject  to    Penalty   if   Employe    Is   Discharged   for 
Testifying. 

Any  employer  who  discharges,  or  in  any  other  manner  dis- 
criminates against  any  employe  because  such  employe  has  testi- 
fied or  is  about  to  testify,  or  because  such  employer  believes 
that  said  employe  may  testify  in  any  investigation  or  proceed- 
ings relative  to  the  enforcement  of  this  act,  shall  be  deemed 
guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  upon  conviction  thereof  shall  be 
punished  by  a  fine  of  from  twenty -five  dollars  ($25.00)  to  one 
hundred  dollars  ($100.00)  for  each  such  misdemeanor. 

Sec.  17.     Penalty  for  Violation  of  Act. 

Any  person  employing  a  woman  or  minor  for  whom  a  mini- 
mum wage  or  standard  conditions  of  labor  have  been  specified, 
at  less  than  said  minimum  wage,  or  under  conditions  of  labor 
prohibited  by  the  order  of  the  commission ;  or  violating  any 
other  of  the  provisions  of  this  act,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a 
misdemeanor,  and  shall,  upon  conviction  thereof,  be  punished 
by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  twenty-five  dollars  ($25.00)  nor  more 
than  one  hundred  dollars  ($100.00). 

Sec.   17[/2-     Commission   May  Be   Requested  to   Investigate. 

Any  worker  or  the  parent  or  guardian  of  any  minor  to  whom 
this  act  applies  may  complain  to  the  commission  that  the  wages 
paid  to  the  workers  are  less  than  the  minimum  rate  and  the 
commission  shall  investigate  the  same  and  proceed  under  this 
act  in  behalf  of  the  worker. 

Sec.   18.      Employe  Entitled  to  Recover  in  Civil  Action. 

If  any  employe  shall  receive  less  than  the  legal  minimum 
wage,  except  as  hereinbefore  provided  in  section  13,  said  employe 
shall  be  entitled  to  recover  in  a  civil  action  the  full  amount  of  the 
legal  minimum  wage  as  herein  provided  for,  together  with  costs 
and  attorney's  fees  to  be  fixed  by  the  court,  notwithstanding 
any  agreement  to  work  for  such  lesser  wage.  In  such  action, 
however,  the  employer  shall  be  credited  with  any  wages  which 
have  been  paid  upon  account. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  107 


Sec.  19.     Appeals. 

All  questions  of  fact  arising  under  this  act  shall  be  deter- 
mined by  the  commission  and  there  shall  be  no  appeal  from  its 
decision  upon  said  question  of  fact.  Either  employer  or  em- 
ploye shall  have  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  superior  court  on 
questions  of  law. 

Sec.  20.     Report  to  Governor. 

The  commission  shall  bienially  make  a  report  to  the  governor 
and  state  legislature  of  its  investigations  and  proceedings. 

Sec.  21.     Appropriation. 

There  is  hereby  appropriated  annually  out  of  any  moneys 
of  the  state  treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated,  the  sum  of 
five  thousand  dollars  ($5,000.00)  or  as  much  thereof  as  may  be 
necessary  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  commission.  (Chap.  174, 
Laws  1913.) 

Passed  the  Senate  February  21,  1913. 

Passed  the  House  March  12,  1913. 

Approved  by  the  Governor  March  24,  1913. 


108  State  of  Washington 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  ATTORNEY 
GENERAL. 


Olympia,  Wn,  October  24,  1913. 

Hon.  E.  W.  Olson,  Chairman  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission, 
Olympia,  Washington. 

Dear.  Sir  :    I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  as  follows : 
"I  desire  to  obtain  your  opinion  upon  the  following  points, 
relative   to   the  powers   of  the   Industrial  Welfare   Commission 
for  the  State  of  Washington,  as  established  by  Chapter  174, 

Laws  1913,  State  of  Washington  : 

"(1)  In  the  event  that  any  conference  called  by  the  com- 
mission shall  find  the  health  or  morals  of  women  or  minors  to 
be  perniciously  affected  by  the  employment  of  said  women  or 
minors  in  any  industry  (a)  for  a  number  of  hours  per  day  or 
week  not  specifically  prohibited  by  the  Eight  Hour  Law,  or  (b) 
during  a  period  of  each  twenty-four  hours  not  at  present 
specifically  prohibited  by  law ;  and  in  the  event  that  such  con- 
ference shall  recommend  to  this  commission  that  such  number 
or  arrangement  of  hours  be  changed,  does  the  power  reside  in 
this  commission  to  issue  an  obligatory  order  embodying  such 
recommendation  ? 

"(2)  In  the  event  that  the  cost  of  maintenance  for  women 
workers  shall  be  found  to  vary  in  different  parts  of  the  state, 
does  the  power  reside  in  this  commission,  upon  the  recommenda- 
tion of  any  conference,  to  issue  an  obligatory  order  which  shall 
specify  different  wage  minimums  in  different  parts  of  the  state 
for  women  workers  in  the  same  industry  or  occupation?" 

First.  In  my  opinion  chap.  174  of  the  Laws  of  1913  does 
not  repeal  chap.  37  of  the  Laws  of  1911,  commonly  known  as 
the  "eight  hour  law  for  women."  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that 
the  commission  has  no  power  to  issue  an  obligatory  order  em- 
bodying a  recommendation  of  a  conference  as  to  the  number 
of  hours  per  day  or  week,  or  the  number  of  hours  within  any 
twenty-four  hours,  women  may  be  employed,  where  such  women 
are  within  the  terms  of  the  eight  hour  law. 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  109 


Second.  From  a  careful  reading  of  chap.  174,  supra,  it  is 
my  opinion  that  any  order  fixing  a  minimum  wage  for  women 
must  be  general  throughout  the  state  as  to  the  particular  trade 
or  industry  affected. 

These  questions,  however,  are  by  no  means  free  from  doubt, 

and  if  it  is  deemed  advisable  to  enter  orders  in  conflict  with  the 

conclusions  above  stated,  I  would  suggest  that  such  orders  be 

entered,  and  the  matter  of  the  determination  of  their  validity 

be  left  to  the  courts. 

Yours  respectfully, 

W.  V.  Tanner, 

Attorney  General. 

Olympia,  Wn.,  January  13,  1914. 

Hon.  E.  W.  Olson,  Chairman  Industrial  Welfare  Commission, 
Olympia,  Washington. 
Dear  Sir  :  You  have  requested  the  opinion  of  this  office  upon 
the  following  question : 

"Does  the  power  reside  in  this  commission,  in  pursuance  of 
the  duties  imposed  upon  it  in  section  10  of  chapter  174,  Laws 
of  1913,  to  determine  and  define  what  shall  constitute  an  occupa- 
tion, trade  or  industry?" 

Section  10,  chapter  174,  Laws  of  1913,  provides  in  part  as 
follows : 

"If,  after  investigation,  the  commission  shall  find  that  in 
any  occupation,  trade  or  industry,  the  wages  paid  to  female 
employes  are  inadequate  to  supply  them  necessary  cost  of  living 
and  to  maintain  the  workers  in  health,  or  that  the  conditions  of 
labor  are  prejudicial  to  the  health  or  morals  of  the  workers,  the 
commission  is  empowered  to  call  a  conference  composed  of  an 
equal  number  of  representatives  of  employers  and  employes  in 
the  occupation  or  industry  in  question,  together  with  one  or 
more  disinterested  persons  representing  the  public;  but  the 
representatives  of  the  public  shall  not  exceed  the  number  of 
representatives  of  either  of  the  other  parties ;  and  a  member 
of  the  commission  shall  be  a  member  of  such  conference  and 
chairman  thereof.    *    *    *" 

No  particular  classification  being  directed  by  statute,  it 
follows  that  the  commission  is  authorized  to  exercise  a  reasonable 


110  State  of  Washington 


discretion  in  making  proper  classifications  for  the  purposes  of 
investigations  and  conferences. 

You  are  advised  that  the  commission  has  authority  to  make 
investigations  and  to  determine  and  define,  within  reasonable 
bounds,  what  shall  constitute  an  occupation,  trade  or  industry 
for  the  purpose  of  investigations  and  conferences.  We  must  not 
be  understood  as  advising  that  the  commission  is  authorized  to 
make,  or  is  justified  in  making,  arbitrary  classifications  or  dis- 
tinctions, so  as  to  include  within  such  classifications  or  defini- 
tions, occupations,  trades  or  industries  having  obviously  no 
reasonable  relation  one  to  the  other. 

Yours  respectfully, 

Scott  Z.  Henderson, 

Assistant  Attorney  General. 

Olympia,  Wn.,  January  13,  1914. 

Hon.  E.  W.  Olson,  Chairman  Industrial  Welfare  Commission, 
Olympia,  Washington. 

Dear  Sir  :  We  are  in  receipt  of  your  request,  which  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

"I  desire  to  request  from  you  whether  or  not  under  the  pro- 
visions of  section  13,  chapter  174,  Laws  of  1913,  it  shall  be 
necessary  for  this  commission  to  submit  to  a  conference  for  its 
recommendations  the  question  of  the  adoption  of  rules  to  be  fol- 
lowed in  issuing  through  the  secretary  of  the  commission  to  a 
woman  physically  defective  or  crippled  by  age  or  otherwise,  or 
to  an  apprentice  in  such  class  of  employment  or  occupation  as 
usually  requires  to  be  learned  by  apprentices,  a  special  license  au- 
thorizing the  employment  of  such  licensee  for  a  wage  less  than 
the  legal  minimum  wage." 

Section  13,  chapter  174,  Laws  of  1913,  provides : 

"For  any  occupation  in  which  a  minimum  rate  has  been 
established  the  commission  through  its  secretary  may  issue  to 
a  woman  physically  defective  or  crippled  by  age  or  otherwise, 
or  to  an  apprentice  in  such  class  of  employment  or  occupation 
as  usually  requires  to  be  learned  by  apprentices,  a  special 
license  authorizing  the  employment  of  such  licensee  for  a  wage 
less  than  the  legal  minimum  wage;  and  the  commission  shall  fix 


Report  of  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  111 

the  minimum  wage  for  said  person,  such  special  license  to  be 
issued  only  in  such  cases  as  the  commission  may  decide  the 
same  is  applied  for  in  good  faith  and  that  such  license  for  ap- 
prentices shall  be  in  force  for  such  length  of  time  as  the  said 
commission  shall  decide  and  determine  is  proper." 

No  reference  is  made  in  said  section  to  a  conference,  and  no- 
where in  the  act  is  there  provision  made  for  submitting  to  the 
conference  for  its  recommendation  the  question  of  the  adoption 
of  rules  to  be  followed  with  reference  to  the  provisions  of  sec- 
tion 13,  supra. 

You  are,  therefore,  advised  that  the  matter  of  the  license 
referred  to  in  said  section  is  within  the  discretion  of  the  com- 
mission, subject  to  no  condition  with  reference  to  recommenda- 
tions of  a  conference,  except  that  a  minimum  rate  must  have 
been  established  for  such  occupation. 

Yours  respectfully, 

Scott  Z.  Henderson, 

Assistant  Attorney  General. 


I 


I 


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